The Walking Dead
by Jumannji
Summary: This story takes off in the order of the show, episode 2 in season 1, but with my OC in it. She helps Rick and his team survive longer than they intended to, and when a certain blue-eyed, squirrel-eating redneck comes in, can she protect the people she loves from the undead? [Really bad at summaries. Please read and review!] Rated M for language - maybe content [later on] ?
1. Guts

**This story takes off on Season 1 Episode 2 of the Walking Dead series. My first TWD fanfiction, so I apologize if I get the characters' names wrong or mixed up.**

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Walkers. So many Walkers. Everywhere. Outside, in buildings, even in the sewer. They killed my parents. Damn them. They killed everybody I loved. And I still managed to get away with my little brother.

I told my seven-year-old brother - Thomas "Tommy" Eastridge - to stay inside the apartment building I found. It wasn't easy, though. Walkers were in there, and with the help of my bow and arrows, I took all of them out in a matter of days. I shut all the doors, wrapped the hook-like knobs with chains, and locked them with padlocks. My parents, unfortunately, were killed by Walkers. That was our only way to get away.

Tommy didn't listen to me when I told him to stay inside while I went out to find more food. He did the complete opposite. This smart alac thought he could be the next child Superman and he went outside _without _weapons.

That's when I heard him scream.

I turned around and saw that Tommy was running from at least three broken-legged Walkers. He ran towards me and then I saw more Walkers coming our way. I panicked and when Tommy got to me, I took his hand and ran. His short legs could only make him run so fast, but I ran faster. I slowed down a bit and turned a corner, making Tommy _almost _trip. I guess one of the Walkers could run and it grabbed Tommy by the leg. I readied my bow and arrow and shot it right in its right eye. I quickly retrieved my arrow, put it in its sheath and ran with Tommy.

I put Tommy on my shoulders and climbed a built-on-the-wall ladder. I put Tommy down on a platform at the end of the ladder so I could pry off my bow that was pressing against my jugular. There was another ladder leading upwards beside Tommy. I told him to climb it. And he did. He climbed as fast as he could and I was right behind him. When we got to the top, his bottom lip was quivering and his eyes were misty.

"We're gonna die," Tommy murmured. "And it's all because of me."

"No," I said to him, getting on my knees so I could be at chest-level to him. "No, we're not."

"They're gonna do what they did to mom and dad."

"Tommy, don't say that."

"But it's true. ." Now, he was crying. "I'm so sorry." And he hugged me.

I held him in my arms. "Tommy?"

He sniffled. "Yeah?"

"Who got you out of that house when the Walkers were coming for Mom and Dad?"

"You."

"And who found that apartment and killed all those Walkers?"

"You."

"And who found all that food and _who_ is keeping you alive?"

"You."

"Exactly. Me. You're my responsibility, Tommy. So do us both a favor and try to make it easier for me, okay? It's already hard enough with all those Walkers chasing us. Are we clear?"

Tommy put on a smile, one of those charming smiles a kid does when he's trying to be slick and get out of a mess he made. "Sir, yes, sir."

"Now," I started, wiping his tears off his cheeks with my hand. "Stop your bawling."

Tommy nodded.

"Oh, and next time . . . when I tell you to stay, what do you do? Because it's certainly not going off and trying to be Superman."

"I stay."

"Good." I give him a careing smile and lift myself up on my toes, kissing the middle of his forehead. "That's how it's going to be, kiddo. You and me."

I grabbed Tommy's hand and urged him to keep walking. He tripped over something and I saw it was a flip-top that led downwards. A ladder was conveniantly there to lead the way down. But I couldn't risk it.

"We could go in there," Tommy suggested, as if reading my mind.

I shook my head. "There might be Walkers in there, Tommy. I'm not risking it."

"You better not." That wasn't Tommy who spoke. I turned around and saw - is he sun burned? - a red-skinned man with short dark blonde hair. He was holding a AK-something. I'm not good with guns, so I'm not sure. His AK was aimed right at me.

"Whoa," I said cautiously, pushing Tommy behind me. "We weren't going to do anything."

"I saw you spyin' in our little opening. I'm not stupid."

_Obviously you are, sir,_ I thought to myself. "Walkers overran our place," I lied. "I was going out to get food and my brother ran off." That part was not a lie. "I had to save our asses by coming up here. We lost all our supplies."

"And you expect me to be a gentleman and give you supplies."

I didn't say anything. Tommy dug his nails in my back. Damn, that boy has a grip.

"Look, kid. This is a dog-eat-dog world. Well, a Walker-eat-man world now. I could shoot you and your brother right now and become a cannibal, no better than those Walkers, and cook you for dinner," the man explained, still pointing his gun to me.

I shuddered.

"But I'm not like that. And I'm not a gentleman. So you can run along back to wherever you came from."

Somebody climbed out from the opened spot where Tommy suggested we should go in through. He was wearing a cap and when he saw Tommy and I, he gave a surprised, "Whoah!" He looked Asian, but he could be something else, too. I'm not sure. He walked over to the man and cautiously, and slowly, pushed the man's gun down.

"Come on, Merle," the Asian boy said. "Stop."

The man - Merle - looked at us, then at the boy, muttered something with a bunch of cuss words and dirty smack talk, and went down the opening in the roof. Once he was down, the Asian boy walked up to us with an open hand to shake.

"Sorry for Merle's behavior. I'm Glenn."

I looked at his hand, then slowly reached out to shake it, but Tommy grabbed it instead. I chuckled at Tommy and looked at Glenn. "That's Tommy," I said. "He's a gentleman."

Glenn nodded, as if that's better than he expected, and looked back at the opening. "I heard everything you told Merle. Sorry about your place. Come with me." He made his way towards the opening and climbed down. I looked at Tommy and made him get on my back. He did so, and I went down the ladder. It was dark, and that's what freaked me out. I imagined a whole herd of Walkers waiting for us at the bottom of that ladder, reaching up with their crusty, moldy hands to rip us limb from limb.

But thankfully, there were no Walkers. When I got to the bottom, I put Tommy down and told him to stay behind me, to grab the back of my shirt. He curled his hands into fists on the back of my button-up and I speed-walked with Glenn across the beat-up room, down a flight of stairs and that's when Glenn got out a walkie talkie. He said something into it, but my head was too filled up with adrenaline to hear anything. My bow was ready with an arrow I retrieved from behind me - in its sheath - and that's when we got to a hall. Two Walkers stood grunting and groaning there. Glenn froze in fear and, as if on cue, right when I shot my first arrow, two men came out from a door all geared up with armor and baseball bats. But I've already shot the second Walker. The geared men froze in surprise at me and I ran with Tommy, retrieving my arrows from the Walkers' faces and heading inside with Glenn.

A blonde woman who's hair was up in a ponytail stood there, hands on her small hips, sleeves rolled up, and eyebrow raised. "Did you - - just do that?" she asked.

I couldn't stop shaking, feeling the adrenaline level in my system going down. I could only nod. I shoved the arrows in the sheath and pulled Tommy close to me. My breaths were coming in short gasps. I know I've killed dozens of Walkers, but Tommy was never there watching me do that. I would tell him to shut his eyes or look away. I wouldn't let him see me kill somebody. Walkers or not, they're people. . . well, used to be. And I don't want Tommy to see me as the older sister that kills people. I have to admit, that one day, he'll be holding a gun, or my bow, and killing Walkers. That one day will come sooner or later. But I prefer to keep my little brother's mind pure. No killing for him. For now.

I followed the gang to the roof, and there laid Merle. How long was I in that state of shock? One minute, I'm being spat at by Merle, the next minute he's handcuffed to a rusty pipe. The team said something to each other, asked me a bunch of questions, then asked the same to Tommy. Kids are more honest than adults, Glenn told me.

I looked around. A dark-skinned man named T-dog, thanks to Glenn's kindliness, told me that Rick would be coming for us. Us. Tommy and I are part of there team? I looked at Tommy.

"I don't want to stay up here," Tommy said to me.

I nodded at him and told Andrea that I was going downstairs for a bit, to try and get Tommy to calm down. I could see his red face. He was having an anxiety attack. I picked him up and ran downstairs. By then, my lungs felt closed and I couldn't breathe. I put him down on a table. Then I heard fists slamming into glass. I turned around. God, I wish I didn't. Right outside of the department store was a whole herd of Walkers trying to come in. I picked Tommy up again and ran to the stairs. I stayed there.

"Breathe," I told Tommy. "Calm down. Take a long, deep breath." I showed what to do by taking in a long breath. He mimicked me. "Good," I whispered. "One more deep breath." He took in a slow breath. "Let it out." He did so and I gave him a soft noogie to the head. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Tommy said, clearing his throat. "Didn't you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"Merle's anger. I saw that he wanted to kill T-dog. And he wanted to do horrible things to . . . what's her name . . . Andrea?"

I looked at him. Crap. No. I knew this would happen. "I need you to _not _look into anybody's thoughts, kay? That's considered rude."

"Really? Where?"

I gave Tommy a cautious look. "Uh . . . in the places where people can _not _read minds."

Tommy chuckled and his expression went blank. I gave him a good smack in the leg. "Nope. Don't you read my mind."

"Ouch!" Tommy whined, rubbing his leg. "That freaking hurt!"

"'Freaking'? Where'd you hear that from?"

Tommy frowned and rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a sigh. "Dad."

I let out a breath through my nose and gave a nod that meant _I give up. _"Just don't say that, okay? I don't want you going all Lil' Wayne on me."

"Ew."

I gave a laugh and Tommy patted my cheek, saying, "I love your laugh."

Having a brother that's fifteen years younger than you can have it's pros. If it wasn't for Tommy, I would've already been chewed up by those Walkers.

"You ready to go back upstairs?" I asked Tommy.

He sighed and gave me a nod. Tommy walked in front of me and I stopped him by saying, "Whoa! You know the rules, kiddo. Safety first. Stay close behind me or beside me. Never in front unless there's a flood."

Tommy sucked his teeth and waited until I was beside him. We walked upstairs and that's when Andrea ran right by me. "GO! GO! GO!" she cried.

"What's going on?" I asked Morales, stopping him by grabbing his arm.

"Rick's coming for us! You have to hurry! Come!" Morales urged and ran down the flight of stairs. I looked at Tommy and saw him tense, as if he was ready to take off. To get out of here. I ran with Tommy right beside me, going down the head-spinning flights of stairs and stopping in front of the group that was holding onto a chain. In front of them was a metal door. I'm guessing that when they pulled the chain, the door would go up.

I could hear Andrea murmuring, "ComeOnComeOnComeOnComeonCOME ON!" as if there were no spaces in between. Her words came rapid-fire. I held onto Tommy and heard glass breaking. SHIT! The Walkers got through. That's when I readied my bow and arrow. And, out of surprise, there came T-dog, looking sorrowful and guilty for something. That's when I noticed. _Where's Merle? _

Somebody knocked on the other side of the door and Andrea and the other pulled on the chain. The door flew up and I helped the team by carrying their things in the back of the truck. I tossed Tommy in there first and then everybody else followed I hopped in and crawled to the back of the passenger's seat where Tommy was curled-up at. I took him in my arms and saw a herd of Walkers coming this way. He buried his face in my chest and the truck sped up. Andrea yelled, "FASTER!" and that's what the truck did. I looked to my right and saw the driver. He had dark hair and a worried look on his face. He was drenched in sweat and he gave me an over-the-shoulder look.

"Who's she?" he asked. "I didn't know we had another member."

"We didn't either," Andrea confessed. "Not until half an hour ago."

I looked Andrea, mouthing 'thank you' and stroking Tommy's head. Andrea gave a smile then nodded at me. "That's Rick," Andrea told me, nodding towards the driver. "Helicopter guy. That's what Morales calls him."

I chuckled and nodded at Rick, even though he couldn't see me. "Pleased to meet you, cop." I noticed his police getup.

"That's Officer Friendly to you," Morales added, giving me a sarcastic smile.

Officer Friendly? Where'd they get that from?

"That your kid?" Rick asked me.

I blinked and shook my head. "Uh, no. He's my little brother. A little surprise."

"How old is he. Like, ten?"

"Seven."

Rick smiled. "Atleast Carl won't be so lonely."

"Carl?"

He sighed. "That's my little boy. All I am right now is a man trying to find his wife and son."

"Where're we going, again?" I asked.

"Refugee camp," Andrea answered. "We'll be safe there."

I nodded. "All I need is one day without - -" I made the horrible growling sound of a Walker that made Tommy jump. "Sorry," I said to him, giving a little laugh. Everybody else gave a small laugh and all I could do was look at everybody. I'm not the only survivor. Thank God. I have a team. New friends. I - - think. People to call allies.

"What's your name, new girl?" Rick asked, taking away the awkward atmosphere.

I opened my mouth to say my name, but Andrea interrupted me. "Let's save that for when we get to the camp fire," she said.

"Yeah," a dark-skinned woman who I haven't gotten her name yet said. "That's where we tell stories. Mostly about how many people we lost, or sometimes those kinds of stories that have you on-edge."

I looked at Tommy and said to the dark-skinned woman, "The poor kid'll die if I tell him a scary story. The world's already a walking horror movie."

"That was deep," Morales said blankly, as if he was high on something, then snapped his fingers. I shook my head, giving a laugh. I knew Tommy and I would be safe here. Well, at the refugee camp. We can't take this for granted. No matter how safe we think we are, I'm keeping my guard up.

**REFUGEE CAMP **

Everybody got off, greeting their loved ones. I saw Rick being reunited with his wife and son. Everybody got off, I did, too, but I stood right in front of the back, facing the now empty trunk. Tommy sat at the edge. And I had to talk to him, tell him not to do that mind-reading thing he does, and to tell him to stay by me. That there's nobody we can trust right now. That's the only person he can trust is me.

"Where's the new girl?" I heard Morales say.

"She's out of the truck," Andrea said. "I think she's talking to her brother." This time, she called out, "Come on, Katniss! Don't be so shy." Katniss? Really? Wow. Original.

"I'm coming!" I called to Andrea. "Just. . . give me a minute, k?" I told Tommy that wherever we're sleeping, he will always have to stay by me and things like that. Things a parent would say to their child when they're going to Disney. But trust me, this isn't a round on Dumbo the Flying Elephant. It's like walking into a tent full of starving lions.

At last, I got helped Tommy down, taking off my bow, holding it in one hand and my free one was on Tommy's shoulder. We walked to the group and their eyes were on me. I gulped that awkward feeling down and saw a little boy looking at Tommy. They'd be the best of friends.

When I was near the group, Morales came close and said, "You're name isn't really Katniss, is it?" I chuckled, shaking my head.

Hours passed.

Campfire time.

I sat on the ground with my bow beside me, the sheath of arrows next to it and Tommy was in between my legs, resting the back of his head on my chest. My arms were loosely around Tommy, I was paying full attention to what Rick was saying. I guess that time went too quickly, and everybody was looking at me.

"Sorry, what?" I asked, totally zoned out.

"What's your name?" a woman named Carol asked me. "It certainly can't be Katniss."

"It certainly is _not,_" I added. "My name's Avery. And this - -" I started, looking down at my brother. "- - is Tommy."

"He's practically asleep, the poor boy," Carol cooed.

I looked down at him. "Tommy, you want a bed?"

He shook his head and rolled over on his side, hurting my breasts with his head. "Ouch, geez, Tom. I'm not a pillow."

The group gave a small laugh and Carol asked me how we got out here all by ourselves.

"I guess it's my fault," I said with a sigh. "You know how on Halloween there's a zombie fest? I thought it was, like, a prank. And I was being followed by Walked, which I thought were just people dressed up in really good costumes. I rode my bike to my parents' house to give Tommy his backpack he forgot at my house. I went to the backyard and then I heard my mom screaming. I ran inside and saw a Walker eating my mom. My dad was already dead. I looked around for Tommy and saw him curled up in a corner. I didn't have time to check him for any bites, all I knew is that he saw our parents being eaten alive. I knew I couldn't help them. I knew it was too late. So - -" I sighed, letting myself breathe. " - - I ran. My bike was already trashed by a car that ran over it, so I ran. I'm not sure if Tommy's emotional scar is that bad. I mean, he saw our parents die. That has to count for something really bad."

"Poor boy," Lori said, covering her mouth. "That's terrible."

I let out another sigh. "I'm trying to help him through this. It's harder for him than it is for me, and I'm the one doing the hunting, the killing, and the gathering."

"The kids are who you have to look out for," Andrea said. "Their attention spans are like that of a squirrel's."

I gave a chuckle. "You have no idea."

The fire died out. Glenn was kind enough to set up a tent for Tommy and I. He also brought us sleeping bags. I set my bow and arrows beside my sleeping bag inside the tent and zipped the opening of the tent shut. Tommy couldn't sleep, said that he could hear the thoughts of the others. He's telepathic, if you couldn't tell. He's always been the gifted child, being able to read what people are thinking, while I can't do squat.

He slips into my sleeping bag and curls up next to me. It's a good thing the sleeping bag was made for two people, or he would've broken it. I made us more comfortable by unzipping he sleeping bag, giving us more room and air. The air was crisp and chilly, which creeped up on my toes. I fell asleep almost instantly with Tommy in my arms. All I know is that my arms were completely asleep when I woke up ten hours later.

**Morning **

I woke up. Looked everywhere. Tommy wasn't beside me. Nor on his sleeping bag. And I started to freak out. I saw that the tent flap was open. How inconsiderate of him. How _dare _he leave the flap open! Doesn't he know a Walker could've come in and killed me? Well, I can't say, "How many times do I have to tell you to zip the tent flap when you come out?" because that's obviously, one: abnormal to say and two: nothing everybody would say.

I looked around for my button-up shirt. Couldn't find it anywhere. Did Tommy take it? That boy . . now all I was left in were my skinny jeans and green tank top that, uncomfortable, showed too much cleavage. I'm not the biggest. . . but I'd rather not 'shake what my momma gave me'. I got up, slipping on a pair of brown hiking boots that magically appeared next to my sleeping bag and tied my hair up in a high ponytail. The nights were chilly but the morning were warm. Geez, just make up your mind, weather!

I made my way outside with my sheath of arrows strapped behind me and my bow in my left hand.

"Avery," Carol called.

I stopped and made my way to her.

"Your shirt'll be dried in a few minutes."

"You - - washed my clothes?"

"Well, a scrubbing board isn't as good as the washer I have at home," she said.

I looked at her with a kind smile. "You didn't have to do that."

"Don't worry about it, sweety. Atleast I have something to do here."

"Thank you, Carol. Really. Thanks."

She nodded with a smile and got back to drying, signaling me that this conversation was over. I walked around, asking if anybody had seen Tommy. Lori said that she saw him go with Carl, her son. Somewhere in the woods, she said. And that's when I heard the scream of two little boys. Lori screamed, "CARL!" while I screamed, "TOMMY!" Everyone of us ran into the woods, but I ran faster, calling out to Tommy. I sped up in front of Lori and found Tommy. I grabbed him in my arms, searched him all over for bites or scratches. He said it didn't touch him. It? Shit. I told Tommy to go with Carl up onto camp, and he didn't hesitate to do so. I readied my bow and arrow, following Rick as he told me to do. There _it_ was. I could smell it. Dead human. A Walker was hunched over a fallen deer that was shot multiple times by arrows. But . . . those aren't my arrows. The Walker got up and went at me. I wasn't aiming and let go of my arrow in a panic, sending it right through the Walker's throat. I winced as the Walker fell and Rick and the others beat the thing down. Dale sliced the Walker's head off with an ax.

I heard something rustling near a tree and I readied my bow with an arrow, the others readied themselves with their weapons. A person came out, thank God it wasn't a Walker. He was my height. Had short, light brown, tousled hair; a dirt-patted face and his arms were covered in dirt as well. I put my arrow back in its sheath and put down my arms, holding my bow by my side.

"Ah, Jesus," Shane murmured.

"Son of a _bitch!_" the man with brown hair spat. "That's _my _deer! Look at it all gnawed on by this - -" he kicked the dead Walker in his gut. "- -_ filthy," _another kick to the gut. "- - di_sease-_bearing, motherless - -" another kick, this time to the groin. "- - poxy bastard!" I'm sure those words hurt everybody but that Walker.

"Calm down, son. That's not helpin'," Dale said, trying to calm that guy with the crossbow down.

"What do you know about it, old man? You take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond."

_Damn, _I said to myself in my head. That guy had major testicles to talk to Dale like that. I would never say anything like that to anybody.

The frustrated guy sighed. "Been trackin' this deer for miles," he retrieved his arrows. "Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do ya think? Think we can cut around this . . . chewed up part right here?"

I wanted to face-palm myself. Really? Everybody knows that once a Walker bites something that has blood and can move, it's instantly infected. That was a stupid thing to ask. But hey, I guess it was worth to ask, since that deer's chock full of meat.

"Man, we're not risking that," Shane said.

"Damn shame," the guy with the crossbow said. "I got squirrel, by the dozen. So, that'll have to do." His curious side tapped the Walker's head with his foot and Amy murmured, "Oh, God," in disgust as the Walker opened it's mouth, moving it's entire face.

"Come on, people," the crossbow guy said. "What the Hell." He shot the Walker right in its head. "Gotta hit the brain. Don't y'all know nothing." He walked right beside me and headed towards camp.

"Merle!" he called out.

Shit. Oh shit. Just wait until he finds out they left Merle on the roof. Holy shit. Somebody, quick, hand me popcorn!

"Merle! Get your ugly ass down here! Got us some squirrel!" the crossbow guy called.

Shane walked near him and I followed the crowd, heading towards Lori who was standing next to Carl who was standing next to Tommy.

"Daryl, slow up a bit, I needa talk to ya," Shane said. Daryl. That's his name.

"Bout what?" Daryl asked, stopping a bit.

"About Merle. There was a . . . uh - - a problem in Atlanta."

Daryl was quiet for a bit, made me wonder if he was going to ready his crossbow and shoot Shane right in his head. But he didn't. "He dead?"

"Not sure," Rick said.

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl spat.

"There's no other easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," Rick said. And he said it. Everything. How he had to handcuff Merle to that rusty pipe on the roof, because he was a danger to them all. Daryl turned into a ticking time bomb. And he just went off. He got out his knife to swing at Rick but Shane got in there and put Daryl in a head-lock. Tommy let out a stuttered breath and walked behind the RV. I was going to go check up on him and then I saw Daryl wipe away tears from his face.

"Damn all of you," Daryl spat. "Go to Hell."

There's something about a hard-as-nails guy crying that makes me go all soft. Weird, huh? Daryl turned around to walk into the woods, and I followed Tommy behind the RV. He was holding his head. And then he sighed when I came close. He let go of his head.

"I could hear everything," Tommy whispered. "I didn't like what they were thinking."

"They? Or Daryl?"

"The red-neck Van Helsing."

I look at him and laugh. "Well, he just found out that his brother is left alone on a roof while the building is flooded with zombies and nobody helped him. How would you feel?"

"Mad. Really mad."

"Exactly." I patted his back and Tommy grabbed my bow.

"You think you can teach me how to shoot?" Tommy asked.

"Not in this lifetime," I mutter.

"Come on," he whined. "I need to learn. Cause what if one day you're out doing something without me and you forget your arrows and then we get overrun with Walkers? I can't protect myself with these - -" he holds up his fists. "I'll die."

I look at him as we walk down a hill. "Fine. You win." And then I over heard Rick talking to Shane about going back to Atlanta to find Merle and the bag of guns he dropped when he was there. I told Tommy to go to Carl, who was throwing rocks at the quarry. Tommy went over to Carl and I went over to Rick when they were done with their conversation.

"Rick," I said to him, jogging to catch up. "I want to go with you. To Atlanta. You know, for Merle and the guns."

"Excuse me?" Rick asked, as if that question was way out of my league. "No. That's unacceptable."

"Come _on, _Rick. I want to be in this. I want to do something."

"You can be with the Lori and the other women."

I shook my head. "Is it because I'm a girl?"

"W-what? No."

"Are you being sexist?"

"No, Avery."

"Then, why won't you let me come along?"

"Because we can't lose another person."

"I can shoot up to a hundred feet away with my bow and arrow. I'm the best archer in my dad's archery team. Well - - was."

"Getting cocky?" Rick asked.

"Getting serious. I want to come along. I swear, you won't regret it."

Rick took a good look at me. "What about Tommy?"

"What do you mean, what about Tommy? He knows I'll be okay. I mean, nothing's killed me yet, right?"

Rick sighed. "Whatever happens to you or Tommy is all on you."

"So, is that a yes?"

"Yes, you can come along."

_Here we go, _I think to myself. _Just risked my life to save Daryl's brother and a bag of guns. Like, YOLO, right?_

* * *

**I already have Chapter 2 done! :D Just REVIEW if you want it up by tomorrow!**


	2. Tell It To The Frogs & Vatos

**Thank you guys for reading! I will post one new chapter tomorrow if I get TWO reviews! If not, I'll post chapter 3 by either Tuesday or Thursday!**

I stand by the back of the truck, telling Tommy that I'll be gone for a while but I'll be back. He tells me that he knows I'll come back, that he doesn't doubts that I won't. "Good," I say to him. "Keep it like that." I kiss the top of his head and tell him to go with Carl. I watch my brother run to his new friend and they play with Sophia. I give a small smile and get on the truck. Then, Daryl stops me.

"Whoa, there," Daryl says, putting a hand on my arm, stopping me. "Where do you think you're going - -" he looks me up and down. " - - Buffy the Walker slayer?"

I look down at my outfit. I'm wearing my skinny jeans that have a rip in them, my dark button-up shirt that isn't buttoned up, my tank top underneath it and the hiking boots I found in my tent that day. "I'm helping you get your brother back," I reply.

"Aren't you supposed to be with the other women?" Daryl asked.

Are you freaking kidding me? I let out a sigh. "I am, but I'm not. Something wrong?"

He looked confused, like I fucked his brain or something. "Just don't get in the way."

I sit in the far right corner, behind the passenger's seat, counting my arrows. Five - - seven - - ten - - fifteen - - nineteen - - twenty three - - thirty. I have thirty arrows. I look at Daryl and count his. He has five. He calls out to Rick, to hurry up. He sit down and when Rick gets in, Glenn pulls the truck out and drives away with us in the back. I look at the pity pile of arrows that Daryl has. I reach behind me and grab a random amount of arrows. Exactly seven.

"Daryl," I say. He turns his head to look at me, staring me down with his bright, yet dimmed eyes. "Want these?"

He looks at the arrows in my hands as if he's supposed to ask a question. "I have some."

"Like, five. I have thirty. Here." I hold them out to T-dog and he hands them to Daryl. He fits one in his crossbow to see if it's a good fit. And it is.

"Uh, thanks," Daryl says.

I give him a nod and he expects my bow.

"Where'd you learn how to shoot?" Daryl asks, trying to get the thought of his brother out of his mind for a moment.

"My dad. He was paralyzed from the waist down after a car accident, so I had to teach myself after that."

"Ouch," he says when I mention the car accident. "I hear from Andrea that you're pretty good."

"I don't mean to brag," I say in a sarcastic, cocky tone. "But I am."

T-dog laughs to himself and the rest of the ride is just an awkward bubble of air.

I doze off, thinking about Tommy. About Mom. Dad. My friends. And then the occasional flash-back of Daryl crossbow-ing that Walker straight in its head. Before I knew it, the truck had already stopped. The men and I ran out from the truck and followed Rick and Glenn. We went through a cut-into fence, and walked under a bridge.

Rick cleared his throat. "Merle first or guns?"

"Merle! We ain't even havin' this conversation!" Daryl said quickly. Which made me want to burst out laughing.

"We _are!_"

"You know the geography's your call," Rick said calmly to Glenn.

"Merle's closest," Glenn stated. "The guns'll mean doubling back. Merle first."

I ran a jogged a little faster so I could see the look on Daryl's face. Smug. Completely smug. We run to the department store where I remembered the Walkers came through. It wasn't our smartest idea, but that was the only way in without drawing attention to ourselves in the back. I heard something from the back and I tapped T-dog's shoulder who tapped Rick's. We moved closer to the Walker, but I didn't. I stood on a table and readied my bow. I let out a calm breath, letting the bow become my arm, and for a split second, I actually thought it was.

Daryl came close to the Walker to shoot it. He said to it, "You are one ugly skank." And was ready to pull his trigger, but I had already let go of my arrow, letting it go and it went right through the Walker's left eye. Right through the pupil. I hopped off the table as the foursome looked at me. I walked to the Walker and retrieved my arrow.

"Told you I was good," I said to Rick and wiped the blood off with an ugly shirt I found lying on the floor. The foursome nodded and went upstairs, I deliberately looked over the rack of shirts. I grabbed two t's, a red Guy Harvey T-shirt size small for juniors and a the same shirt but in blue and in kid's size. As I ran behind them, I folded the shirts and tucked them at the bottom of the cylinder sheath that held my arrows. One for Tommy. One for me.

There we were, in front of the door that was bolted with a padlock. T-dog went over with the wire cutters and cut the padlock. Rick pulled off the chain and I readied my bow, waiting for a few Walkers to be there. Stupid idea, right? I mean, the door was padlocked. But hey, can't be too careful, huh?

Daryl kicked the door open and I stopped. Merle wasn't there.

"MERLE!" Daryl shouted. "MERLE!" He ran along the ledge of the roof, looking for his brother. I opened my mouth to say something but realized I was still standing at the door. I put my arrow back in its sheath and lowered my bow, pushing past Glenn, Rick and T-dog. Daryl was a panic-filled nightmare at this point.

"No! NO!" Daryl screamed, as if his brother would magically appear behind him and everything would be fine. My heart shattered after that. I saw him cry. For real this time. His face was tomato-red and now that I think about it. . . I haven't really seen a man cry. Only in movies and TV shows. Not in real life. But this, this is real.

I looked down at the ground where Merle used to lay at. There was an amputated hand lying white on the ground. The handcuffs were bloody and I looked away. What the Hell!? What kind of a man would cut off his own hand? Why not just cut the handcuffs? Oh, God. I looked away. This is definitely real. Daryl is really crying. Merle really did cut off his hand. This world is really coming to a brutal end. And I'm really going to pass out in a minute or two.

Daryl suddenly pointed his crossbow to T-dog. Rick pointed his gun at Daryl.

"I won't hesitate," Rick said firmly. "I don't care if every Walker in the city hears it."

After a few seconds, Daryl's eyes darted from Rick, to T-dog, to Glenn, to . . . me. His eyes locked on me. Then he looked back at T-dog. He lowered his crossbow, Rick lowered his gun.

"You, um, got a rag?" Daryl asked T-dog. T-dog reached into his pant pockets and pulled out a rag, handing it over to Daryl. He went over and snatched the severed hand from the ground. "I, er, guess the blade was too dull to cut the cuffs. Ain't that a bitch?" Daryl said to himself. He walked over to Glenn, told him to turn around, and Glenn didn't hesitate. And with that, Daryl put the rag that held Merle's hand in Glenn's backpack. Glenn looked like he was about to hurl.

I nudged T-dog, staring at the ground, at the blood trickles on the ground. Eventually, Daryl looked where I was looking and he followed it. We went all the way downstairs, but by this point, the blood trickles were becoming smaller.

"Merle!" Daryl called. "You in there?"

"We're not alone," Rick warned.

He turned a corner and I readied my bow again as fast as I possibly could. I really felt like Katniss Everdeen for a mere moment. And then I notice trickles of blood leading over a hub on top of an oven. I call out to Daryl, he looks over, spots the blood I was looking at and walks over. Rick picked up an iron that looks like something from the olden days.

"What's that?" I ask, noticing something on the iron.

"Skin," Rick answers. "He cauterized the stump."

A shudder of disgust travels through my body.

"You mean to tell me that Merle burnt his arm so he could close it off?" I asked in disbelief.

"Told you he's tough," Daryl said to no one in particular. "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

"Don't take that on faith, he lost alot of blood," Rick added.

I looked around the place, searching for another clue of some sort. Anything, really. And then I saw it. "You guys," I said to them and nodded towards the smashed window. The foursome ran past me and looked over the window. I lowered my bow and arrow for a moment as I squeezed through the group. "You think Merle could've gone out through here?" I asked.

"He left the building?" Glenn asked.

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl asked back. "He's out there alone as far as he knows. Do what he's gotta do to survive."

"You call that surviving?" T-dog started. "Just wandering out into the streets, maybe passing out. What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being in here, handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks!"

I look at him. _Um, excuse you, sir. I believe I haven't done squat to you, so I suggest you chill your nipples and get your head out of your ass before my arrow goes through your head. _I can't remember being more angry at somebody. But, Hell, his brother is nowhere to be found. Can you really blame him?

A few minutes and wanting-to-bitch-slap moments later, we decided it'd be best to get the guns since we lost Merle. Again. We decided to get the guns first and go looking around the blocks for Merle. We walked back through the kitchen and down the stairs, into a study where we could think. I collapsed on one spinning office chairs at the front desk and raised my legs, letting them settle ontop of each other on the desk.

"Wish I had some WI-FI," I said to myself, throwing myself back. And then I noticed. Boobs. My cleavage. I cleared my throat silently and adjusted my shirt. I looked around to see if the foursome were staring at me. Nobody but Daryl who'd just 'casually' looked over. He smirked a little at me, a charming smirk that made my stomach churn and I smiled back at him. Rick, T-dog, Glenn and Daryl were sitting on the floor, Glenn had gathered a few let's-pretend-you're-the-marble items to plan out the way we're going to get the guns.

"Okay," T-dog started. "How're we getting the guns?"

A moment of silence, and I started to get uneasy. _Damn. _I plonked my legs on the ground and stood up, once again feeling like Katniss Everdeen when she volunteered herself as tribute. "I"ll do it." The words seemed to float out of my mouth, but they felt so foreign, as if I hadn't spoken them.

All four heads shot up and looked at me. They all stood up.

"No," Rick started. "Don't do anything rash, Avery."

"I'm the youngest one here," I say. "And no, I'm not saying any of you are geezers. I'm saying that I can run fast. And I'm light on my feet. You can barely hear me running. And I'm good with my bow and arrow. As long as you guys cover me, I'll be fine."

"All I gotta do is run, kill a few Walkers if they get in my way, grab the bag, and run like a motherfucker back here." I could see Daryl holding back a I-need-to-laugh-right-now smile.

"If there's anybody going out to get those guns, it's me," T-dog stated.

"No," I said. "I'm the new girl, I want to prove myself worthy. I don't want to be known as the girl you ran into while running away from Walkers. No. I want to be known as that girl that kicked major Walker ass. Come on, Rick."

Rick looked at T-dog, at Glenn, at Daryl. "You sure you want to do this, Avery? You don't have to, you know. If you feel pressure, just back down. You don't have to do this."

"I know," I said to Rick. "And I didn't have to risk my life every minute of everyday back there in that apartment building I snuck my brother and I into. I didn't have to climb that building with my brother on my shoulders. But I did. Look at me, Rick. There's so many things that happened to me. And I'm still alive. Let me do this."

Daryl cleared his throat, crossed his arms and looked away. "She has you good, bro. Can't say no to that."

"Luck runs out, kid," T-dog said.

"I don't need luck," I added. "If luck existed, we'd all have normal lives. No Walkers would exist. I don't _believe _in luck. I believe in ass kicking and surviving. _That _actually gets you somewhere."

Daryl gave a nod as if saying, _That's my girl, _and walked up to me, handed me seven arrows. "You might want these back," he said.

"Why? I have, like, twenty-something left," I said. "And besides, you're the one that's gonna be having my back on the second floor."

"Wait," Rick said. "Who said anything about a second-floor lookout?"

I grinned, loving this. "I used to do this with Dad all the time. You know the game manhunt?" The foursome nodded. "My dad was a retired Marine, and he used to take us to the middle of nowhere, where all these buildings were at. Nobody used them. It was a training area for the Marines. Instead of using real guns, we used BB guns." I shook my head. "Anyway, the point of this is - -" I pointed to Daryl and T-dog. " - - I need two of you as my backup."

"Backup?" T-dog said. "I thought you were sure about this?"

"I am. And by backup, I mean you're close behind me while one of you are hidden somewhere, like on the second floor of a building," I explain.

"I'll be your backup," Daryl added. "I'll be the one behind you."

I nodded at Daryl and looked at T-dog. "How're you with shooting?" Then I look at Glenn. "What's your plan?"

"Since you already have T-dog and Daryl, Rick and I are going to go around the building, to clear that alley which is two blocks away - -" he drew it on the ground with chalk and I could see us now, running along that street. " - - and it doesn't matter if you get cut off, because you'll still be covered."

I let out a sigh of relief and nodded at him. "Alright." I look around, actually starting to worry. T-dog got up, readying his gun. Glenn got my arm.

"Hey," Glenn said. "I was thinking. Since you already have Daryl, and he's a ticking time bomb of rage, can we get T-dog? The more people we have to take out the Walkers in that alleyway, the better."

I nodded. "Alright." I was actually okay with T-dog going with Glenn. I bet he felt safer. I just didn't know what to feel with Daryl around as my right-hand man. Daryl and I climbed down the steps into the alleyway. I jumped down first and readied my bow with a sharp arrow, looking around to see if it was clear. Good, no Walkers in sight. I turned around to tell Daryl that everything was clear, but he was right behind me and I almost peed myself.

"Jesus!" I exclaimed in a whisper. "I almost shot this arrow right in your dick!" Daryl looked down and noticed how low I was accidentally aiming.

Ha. 'Accidentally'.

He pushed my bow arrow carefully, watching out for his groin, and looked around, then grabbed my shoulders and looked into my eyes. "Look, if you don't want to do this, it's fine. This is my brother we're looking for, not yours. If you die, I'll feel guilty and I hate having a heavy conscious. What am I gonna tell your brother? He's like, seven, right? i can't tell him the only family he has left died because of me."

I closed my eyes, and let out a breath. "Daryl," I started, his name tingling in my mouth. "I'll be fine. Just - - stay a few yards behind and cover me. K?"

Daryl looked at me, his hands slipping off of my shoulders. "You look confident about this."

"That's because I am," I said.

"What're you gonna do?" he asked.

"The first thing I'm going to do is kill the first Walkers that spot me, and try to sneak my way around."

Daryl dug for something in his pocket and pulled out a silver dagger. "Was my old man's," Daryl started. "Don't use your arrows if a Walker's near you. Use the dagger instead."

I nodded. "Thanks." I shove the sheathed dagger on my backpack and ready my bow, lowering my aim just in case a Walker's near and its back is turned to me. I look around and see a Walker. Thank God that its back is to me. Good. Just like how I thought it'd be. I sneak my way behind a car and notice that Daryl is back-to-wall as if he was glued there. His crossbow was ready and he was smirking at me like an excited seventeen-year-old who's about to do crazy things. I bite back a smile, but he sees it, and I can tell I'm blushing because my face is burning.

I lie on the ground flat on my stomach, looking under the cars. There's a Walker that's slowly walking towards me, but it doesn't know I'm here. I reach for Daryl's dagger but remember - - _hey, smart ass! How about run behind the car? _And that's what I do. I make my way to the back of the car and ready my bow and arrow. And then I realize. I'm in the center of the street. I look back at Daryl who's already where I was before, behind the car. I run behind a big bus and then a Walker comes at me. I get out my dagger and strike it in between its eyebrows. Before it collapses, I scoop its back and slowly put it on the ground. I retrieve the dagger, wipe the blood off on the Walker's already-torn clothes, and keep on going. I look over my shoulder for a split second and see that Daryl has that relieved look on his face. I can't help but grin when I take down three Walkers. With the help of Daryl, I mean. He's now by my side. Because there're too many Walkers now.

Daryl grabs my wrist, ready to run towards the alleyway, but I'm determined to get the gun bag. I take off running behind some cars and see the gun bag so close. I run faster. And then I see a cop's hat. Must be Rick's. I grab the bag and head towards the hat. I slip the hat on my head - my hair's down so my once-in-a-ponytail-hair won't bother it - and ready my bow. I take down five Walkers and start running again. I hold the hat in place on my head as I catch up with Daryl and head towards the alleyway.

"Run!" Daryl commands, trying to run faster.

"Well, nah!" I say sarcastically. "Let me just walk casually while there's a herd of Walkers coming after me. YES! That's _exactly _what I'll do, Daryl!" I hear Daryl laughing and we're through the gates, I shut them and we hide behind a wall. And then I couldn't see Daryl. Where is he?! The Walkers run by, not knowing where we were. And then I see three men. I looked over and saw two of them kicking Daryl and Glenn, and the other was on the ground.

"That's it! That's the bag!" one of the men said and started towards me. I backed away slowly, but hit the back of my head against the wall. I tried to let go of the bag, but my hands were frozen in shock. All I could see was the pained Daryl lying on the ground, holding himself to try to control the pain.

Before I knew it, one of the men grabbed the bag of guns - and me. He picked me up as if I weighed less than five pounds and I tried to break free. My sheath of arrows slipped off of me and I accidentally let go of my bow. I felt completely naked without my weapons. To my surprise, the only name I could yell was, "DARYL! DARYL!" and then I was tossed in a car as if I was a rag doll. They shut the trunk and it hit my head, hard. I felt the pain in my temple and I couldn't move. The pain wasn't alot, but I hadn't eaten in two days, and I was barely able to move at that point. It only took one good smack to the head, and I didn't have enough energy.

When I woke up from being blacked out for what seemed like forever, I noticed I was still in the trunk. I slammed my fists on the trunk and they started to yell.

"Shut up or we'll leave you here on the road!" One of them yelled. "Do you want to get ripped apart?"

"Where are you taking me?" I called. "Get me out of here!"

"No can-do!"

I was furious now. As if all the anger from my childhood and teenage years came back to me at that moment. "Damn you fucking Mexicans!" I screamed in rage. "Go hop over your fucking border and _stay _there! When I get outta here, I'm gonna rip off your fucking dick and feed it to the Walkers! You hear that, beaners!? You're fucking screwed!" Now, my throat was raw. I banged my legs against the trunk and the car suddenly stopped, making my hit my forehead on something beside my head. I screamed and kicked at them, but one of the, the bigger one, picked me up on his shoulder and I was determined to shake myself off of him, even it meant breaking a few bones. Not including mine. I pounded my fists on his back but he didn't care.

Before I knew it, we were in a building. Dark, only lighted by candles. I heard the voice of an elderly woman, and the man whined, then put me down. I got up to run, but was face-to-face with the elderly woman I heard.

"Look at you," the old woman cooed. "Aren't you the most precious thing! You remind me of my granddaughter, what a sweety she was." Then she started to talk about a Mr. Gilbert. She looked at the boys and said something to them in Spanish. And, from what I saw on their expressions, it wasn't too nice. She grabbed my wrist, took me to the kitchen and fed me some chicken soup. Oh, God. It was delicious. And they had bottled water. I only drank three sips, and I was done. I know I'd need that for later. After I was done eating, the two Mexicans argued with the elderly woman, and they won, because picked me up and carried my upstairs. Forcefully, obviously. I still had the water bottle in my hand, and I slammed it against their heads, yelling cuss words. They threw me in a dark room and put tape over my mouth, tied my hands behind my back and put a sack over my head. I was blind, deaf, mute, and physically impaired for I don't know how long.

"MMMM!" I tried to scream, squeezing the water bottle behind me. They hoisted me up after I snuck the water bottle in my shirt and carried me somewhere. I felt a breeze on the front of my arms. Obviously we were outside, but I didn't know where. I heard voices and somebody yelling from down below. And then the sack over my head was ripped off and I saw Rick and Daryl standing right there. I was on a roof. Oh, shit. Heights. I can deal with fighting Walkers, but heights. . . oh, Hell no! Just shoot me now! I tried to scream again but my voice was caught in my throat.

"LET HER GO!" Daryl shouted. I felt a pinch of relief that he was here. That he was the first one to say that. I look over at Rick and I feel myself getting ushered closer to the edge of the roof. I squeal.

"STOP!" Rick exclaimed.

The men behind me laughed and pushed me a bit closer to the edge. I was an inch away from falling. But then, I was rushed inside the building again, this time with no tape over my mouth and my hands were released from the rope, but they were still forced behind my back. I tried to scream, then I noticed we were outside again. Going up some steps, turning a corner, and then we were in a building. A - - nursery home for the elderly. I looked around, with my hands still behind my back, they ushered me into a separate room where the windows were blocked by nailed-on-the-wall wooden boards. I looked at the man that brought me inside the building. I think his name's G. Or Guirmo. Something like that. I'll call him G.

"Why'd you put me here?" I asked him.

"I have a feeling your little friends are coming to get you. What are you to them, anyway?" he asked me. "You guys don't look related."

"I sort of just stumbled into their group."

"Newbies don't slide along that easily."

"That's because I proved myself."

"Ah, yes," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "By getting that bag of guns?"

I swallowed. "More or less."

G moved along the room, opened a cupboard and I saw all kinds of food. He kneeled over and grabbed something from inside the sink cabinets. "You need this?" G asked, holding out a dark backpack.

I looked at him for a while, as if saying, _really? _Then, I nodded. "Yeah." He threw me the backpack, I caught it, and he was heading for the door. Then he stopped. He told me I could eat whatever I wanted. And that there were some water bottles in the fridge. He exited the room by shutting the door.

How great, I thought to myself. He could come back any minute now with a Walker and I have absolutely no weapons. My babies, my weapons. I felt powerless without them. Damn them. I thought about the things I said while I was in the trunk of their car. Damn, I didn't mean what I said. I wanted to get out of here and apologize. But right now, I'm eating. Scarfing down three packs of Poptarts I found. Yum. S'mores flavor. I hold the four remaining boxes of Poptarts in my arms and run to the fridge. I dump all the water bottles at the bottom of my backpack and stuff the Poptarts boxes ontop of the bottles so the tarts didn't get squashed.

I wonder what Tommy's doing right now. Probably playing with Carl and Sophie, throwing rocks at a tree, seeing who can throw the farthest. Or he could be out in the forest with Lori and Carol, trying to find some berries. Or he could be at the quarry with Andrea and Amy, fishing or something. Or with Shane, trying to learn how to catch frogs. Or he could be screaming for his life as the campsite begins to be overrun by Walkers.

I shake that out of my mind. Try to calm myself. "Tommy's fine," I say to myself. "Tommy's a good kid, he knows what to do at times like that." I couldn't think straight anymore. I zipped the backpack closed, strapped it over my shoulders and headed out the door. I ran into Felipe and he looked at me as if saying, _what the Hell are you doing out here? _

"I need to get to my brother," I say to him. "I think he's in trouble."

"Look, _senorita, _I'm afraid you're not going anywhere until your friends come back with the guns."

And then I hear somebody wheezing. I run to the noise and see an African American man who's name is Mr. Gilbert. I follow Felipe into a room where there's a bunch of medicine and, at first, I'm tempted to take half of what's left. But then I think. . . these people need it more than I do. It'd be selfish and cruel if I take this stuff from them. So, I back away, grabbing two inhaler's - - one for Tommy, his anxiety attacks are practically like asthma - - and one for Mr. Gilbert. I run to him and try to say soothing things to calm him.

"Calm down," I say to him. "Here. . ." I hold out the open inhaler. I put it to his mouth and press my thumb down on the pump for two seconds. Release. Wait for Mr. Gilbert to take a breath through his nose, then press down again. I look to my right. There they are. Rick. Glenn. T-dog. Daryl.

"Man, I thought you were being eaten by dogs!" T-dog exclaims.

I turn around, gesturing towards the chihuahuas. "Not at all," I say. I look at the four worried faces. I follow the foursome that're following G into a different room, what looks like an office. And they start talking. I found out that Felipe's a nurse, takes care of those elderly. And G was a janitor in this nursing home. The staff left the elderly here to die, but Felipe and G stayed. How noble. I'm now at a higher level of respect for those two.

Rick gave half of the guns and ammo to G, telling him, "Good luck," and to take care. Then we made our way outside. Rick handed me a gun. Honestly, I have no idea how to use it. I looked at him as if the gun was the hardest jigsaw puzzle in the world, then looked at Daryl. My sheath of arrows were strapped onto his back and so was my bow. I yelp and come at him. He gives me back my weapons and I hug them furiously as we run on the pavement.

"My babies!" I squeal, kissing the top of my bow and hugging my sheath of arrows. I look at Daryl and find him biting back a laugh. "Thank you," I say to him, strapping my sheath of arrows over one shoulder, given that my backpack is already on my back. Then, we all stopped.

"Where's our van?" Glenn whined. "We left it _right _there!"

"Merle," Rick murmured.

I looked at Daryl and he shook his head.

"It's gonna be sunset real soon," I stated. "The Walkers'll come out hungrier and in bigger herds."

Rick gave a nod. "We better run from here."

Shit, I said to myself. I'll die before I even get across the gates, which is a few yards away from me.

After a few hours of running, I didn't collapse of exhaustion or lack of water. It was sundown already and paranoia was chomping at my head. Everywhere I turned, I'd ready my bow as if I was awaiting a herd of Walkers to be right there.

We were up the hill. And then I heard screaming. I felt weak in the knees, but when I heard Tommy screaming, I took off running faster than all of them. I made my way up the hill and I saw a herd of Walkers. Rick handed me the gun, I strapped the bow to my back and cocked my handgun. _Boom. _I shot a Walker right in its eye. I looked around for Tommy. Turned around. Saw more Walkers. I saw him with Lori and Carl, curled up with Carl as Shane protected the three of them. I turned around and shot some more. I saw Daryl, who's back was to me, and a Walker was coming at him. Out of instinct, I dropped the gun, retrieved my bow and readied it.

"NO!" I found myself screaming and shot my arrow. Daryl turned around right when my arrow went through the back of the Walker's head and right through its forehead. It fell it its knees and Daryl looked at me in disbelief. I ran over to the Walker, retrieving my bow, not looking at Daryl, and going back for the gun. I was then tackled by a Walker. I was flat on my back as the Walker tried to chomp at my face. I tried to kick it off but it was too heavy. And then I saw a leg kick the Walker's side, arms reached for my waist, and I was pulled to my feet. I looked behind me. Saw Daryl. Felt all fluttery inside. Snapped back to reality and Daryl shot the Walker in the head. I looked around. No more Walkers.

"Are you hurt?" Daryl asked me quickly, putting fingers on my cheek, tilting my head back and forth.

"No," I assured him. "I had enough space between that Walker. It didn't bite or scratch me." I heard something rustling from the RV and I readied myself, turning around. I dropped my weapons and ran to Tommy, seeing him by the RV with Carl. He ran to me, crying. Carl was sobbing in his father's arms, momentarily shocked of what had happened. I was on my knees now, embracing Tommy.

"I thought you were dead," Tommy murmured as his arms curled around my neck.

I managed a weak chuckle, grabbed his arms and pulled him away so I could look into his eyes. "What did I tell you, Tommy? Nobody can - -"

" - - kill Avery but Avery," Tommy finished for me. I remembered what Daryl had said, the same thing I'd said, but about his brother. _Feed him a hammer, he'll shit out nails_, is what Daryl said.

"You okay, kiddo?" I said to Tommy.

He nodded and hugged me one more time. "Did you get the guns?"

"Yep. Oh, and the _best _part," I started sarcastically. "Was that I was kidnapped by Mexicans."

Tommy laughed. "You can't be serious, right?"

I nodded towards Daryl. "Ask Daryl."

Rick started talking to the men in the group, told them that we'd have to take off by tomorrow. Something about a CDC. A place where we can all be safe. And Shane wasn't okay with that. He kept going on about 'what if there're no more CDC people there anymore? What if the Walkers got to them?'

I was eavesdropping. I sat on the steps of the RV, pretending to think about something with my head in my hands, but I was actually listening in to what they were talking about.

I asked Dale if Tommy could sleep in his RV, and he gladly took Tommy in. I had to explain to Dale that I didn't trust this area anymore. That I wanted Tommy to sleep in a safe area. Dale didn't mind. He's a kind man with a kinder heart and that's the kind of people we need more of at times like this.

**The next morning **

I wake up before the sun goes up, before anybody's up, and do my morning routine, something I did back at home when we were hunting deer. I grabbed my bow and sheath of arrows, and walked in the forest, my weapons ready to strike at a Walker right through their head. I walked around the whole perimeter for more than an hour, by how high the sun had gone up. I made my way to a hill and found Rick, sitting on the ground, looking over the city, talking in a walkie talkie. I walked away before he could hear me, since I'm as quiet as a mouse, and made my way back to camp. I decided to go back into the forest, to undo my tent and roll up my sleeping bag for the trip to the CDC.

When I got to my ten, I heard something rustling behind some trees. I readied my bow with an arrow, and slowly tip-toed my way over there. It wasn't a Walker, it was Daryl. I startled him and he stumbled backwards, catching himself with a tree.

"What're you doing up so early?" I said to Daryl, lowering my bow but looking around for Walkers.

"I should be asking you the same thing. Scaring the living shit out of me."

"Sorry about that."

"Jesus. Can't a guy take a leak in peace?"

I shaped my mouth into a little o. And then I thought of the CDC. "Are we going there?"

"What?" Daryl asked, checking his zipper and zipping it up. I wanted to laugh.

"Are we going to the CDC? Are there any people there?" I asked again.

"You heard?"

"Rick doesn't talk quietly."

Daryl managed a scoff and nodded. "Fair enough."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are we going to the CDC?"

"Not sure," he answered. "Shane and Rick are having an argument about this."

"What do you think about all of this?"

"I don't know, what _should _I think?"

"All I know is that I don't want to risk the life of my brother for a road trip to somewhere we don't even know is inhabited by people."

"Rick has a point, though. If the government knows about the CDC, they'd do everything in their power to keep it safe."

I nodded. "I just don't want to get my brother killed."

"I'm positive that no one wants to die." Daryl said something about Walkers under his breath, swearing at them. "Freakin' geeks fucked the world."

"I know. I'm just as pissed as you are."

I heard something fumbling towards us, but the bushes and thick trees covered it. I readied my bow with an arrow and Daryl readied his crossbow. There he was, my little brother. His shirt was ripped and he was struggling with a tree branch that had caught the ripped part of it. I helped him and swung my sheath of arrows in front of me. I pulled out the blue Guy Harvey shirt I 'stole' from that department store.

"This'll be better," I said to him, taking off his shirt and putting his shirt on over his head.

"Where'd you get that?" Daryl asked from behind me.

"That department store," I answered. "I didn't have time to take more clothes for everybody. I only grabbed two shirts." I dug at the bottom of my sheath of arrows and pulled out the red one. "Want it?"

"No," Daryl said, shaking his head. "Red ain't really . . . my color." He checked the tag at the collar and shook his head again. "That ain't even my size."

I managed a scoff and stuffed the shirt back in my sheath of arrows. I looked at Tommy. "Try not to get yourself filthy."

He nodded, told me that he was going to go play with Carl, Sophia, and Morales' kids. He ran off and I turned back to Daryl, who was still in a ready-to-shoot stance with his crossbow.

"Daryl," I said to him. "What're you . . ." and he shot. I shut my eyes but felt nothing. I turned around. Saw a Walker a few yards away from me. Shit. We need to get out of here. Right now.

* * *

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	3. Wildfire

**Wildfire**

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I was already packing my things, and I was helping my slow-poke-for-a-brother Tommy. After I was done, I went out of my tent, undid it, and packed it in Daryl's truck - with his permission, that is. I walked back onto the camp and the first thing I saw was Daryl bashing an already-dead Walker right in the head with a pick ax. I winced but kept walking. I saw Andrea mourning over her sister, on her knees, staring right at Amy who was bit twice. And is dead. I felt so bad for her. Imagined what she could be feeling right now. She'd be feeling so much sorrow and despair, but mostly numbness throughout that sorrow. I wouldn't even know what I'd do if Tommy died because of a Walker bite. I'd go insane, kill as many things - or people - as I can. I'd be a ticking time bomb that just went off, and there's no way to put me out.

I saw Daryl and the other men carrying the dead bodies of the Walkers to the burning areas. Daryl and Morales lifted up Carol's dead husband, taking him to the bon fire. Glenn said something to them that made him look like he was going to cry. Said, "Our people go on _that _side of the road. We don't burn them. We bury them." Daryl looked at Glenn in a frustrated expression and carried Carol's husband - who I obviously haven't gotten his name yet - to the other side of the road with Morales helping him. Daryl said something under his breath and Morales said, "Shut up, man!"

"Y'all left my brother for _dead! _You had this comin'!" Daryl exclaimed at the group, pointing to Carol's dead husband and the rest of the officially-dead Walkers. Daryl walked away and I went over to a large rock, picking up a chunk of wood and got out the dagger that belonged to Daryl's father, and sat on the rock who's surface was hot. I started to carve the word _DEAD _in big words on that piece of wood. Started to carve other words into it. Names, actually. Tommy's. My parents'. Amy. Carol's huband - Ed, from what I heard her say a few minutes ago - and then I carved the word _Earth _on it. Earth is dead. More and more people die. Soon, there will be none of us left.

"A Walker got him! A Walker bit Jim!"

I looked up and saw Jim holding up a shovel, the other men huddled up around him.

"Show it to us!" Shane commanded. "Right now!"

I got to my feet, dropped the piece of wood, covered the dagger with it's leather sheath, and made my way to camp. T-dog had held Jim's arms behind his back while Daryl lifted up Jim's shirt. There it was. A Walker bite.

"I'm okay," Jim assured, his tone was uneasy.

Daryl backed away along with T-dog. He looked frightened and disgusted at the same time.

Jim walked over and sat behind the RV while the rest of us were far from him, talking about what to do with Jim. Carl, Morales' kids, Sophia and Tommy were in the RV, safe and sound away from this conversation.

"I say we put a pick ax through his head," Daryl started.

"Is that what you want? If he was you?" Shane asked him.

"Yeah, I'd thank you while you did it."

"I hate to say, I never though I would, but Daryl's right," Dale added.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale. He's a rabid dog," Rick stated. "That's sick. _Sick._"

They said something too quickly, and I couldn't quite catch what they were saying.

"Line's pretty clear," Daryl said. "Zero tolerance for Walkers. Or the dead-to-be."

"What if we give him help?" I said, trying to make sense from this meeting.

"I heard the CDC was working on a cure," Rick added.

"Heard that, too," Shane said. "Heard alot of things before the world went to Hell."

"What if the CDC's still up and running?"

"Then that is a stretch right there."

They talked about what they did last night. About how the CDC might still be up and running. How there might be people there working on a cure. How there might already _be _a cure and they're just waiting on people to get there. How we might be able to save Jim.

Daryl turned around, looking at Jim. "You go looking for Aspirin. Do what you need to do . . ." he walked backwards, spun around, readying himself with his pick ax. "Somebody needs to have some balls and take care of this damn problem!" He was about to strik at Jim with the pick ax, but Rick pulled out his gun and stopped him by putting it to Daryl's head.

"We don't. Kill. The living," Rick said slowly.

"Funny," Daryl stated as he turned around, lowering the pick ax. "Coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."

"We may disagree on some things, but not on this," Shane said, who was standing behind Daryl. "You put it down." He was gesturing towards the ax. "Go on." Daryl threw the pick ax down and furiously stalked away in the forest, grabbing his crossbow. I sighed and went to Daryl's truck, grabbing my backpack. _The food, _I thought to myself. _And the water bottles! _Oh, my God. I forgot about the supplies I got!

"Rick!" I called. He turned around and jogged to me. He stopped behind Daryl's pick-up truck.

"What is it?" Rick asked, crossing his arms.

I unzipped my backpack and showed him the inside of it. Rick was now hands-in the backpack. "There must be atleast twenty-something water bottles in here," he said.

"I know," I added with an accomplished smile. "The Poptarts were the only things I could find."

"Where'd you get this?"

"At the nursey home. Felipe told me to get comfortable. And I did."

Rick looked at me, searching for something on my face, but nodded. "Good job. Mind if I give a water bottle to everybody here?"

"I got the supplies for all of us. Not just for me."

"Thanks, Avery."

I gave a nod and Rick lugged the backpack on one shoulder, called, "Hey, everybody! Look what Avery brought!" and everybody was around Rick like a pack of dogs. Rick was on his knees, handing out a water bottle and a pack of Poptarts to every person. They ate and when they were done, he brought the backpack back over to me, thanked me again, and I started to eat. Oh, my God. Haven't eaten in a good twenty-four hours and these Poptarts hit the spot. I drank half a water bottle and put it back in the backpack. I felt somebody tug on my elbow, and when I turned around, it was kids. Morales' children, Sophia and Carl. But it was Sophia who'd grabbed my elbow.

"Our parents told us to say thank you for the food," Sophia said.

I smiled at her. She had gray eyes and short blonde hair. I found her to be adorable. "No problem." Morales' children thanked me, so did Carl, and they went back to their parents. I saw them nodding at me, thanking me for the food and water. For a second, I thought that I was officially part of this group. Well, if I wasn't, Rick would've thrown me out by now, don't you think?

Daryl arrived with his pick-up truck stuffed with dead bodies. He parked it backwards, so the back of it would face us, and hopped out of it once he turned his car off. I was standing near Andrea, stroking her back, and Tommy was right in front of me, my other arm drooped over his front. Andrea's expression was - - well I don't know what it was. She was trying to be strong, but wanted to cry oh-so bad. Tommy was standing next to Carl who was standing next to Sophia and Morales' children. They were crying, not sobbing, just a few tears streamed their faces.

At the end, Andrea and Dale put Amy's body down in a hole. Everybody was crying, even Tommy. But not me. I still couldn't believe that the world was what it was. So many things that changed in such a short time, that you think you're stuck in a nightmare. But once a Walker bites you, you know that this is reality. That there are undead people walking around, hungry for your flesh. You're not safe, no matter where you are.

All of us were standing around the place were the cars were parked. I was leaning my back against Daryl's pick-up, arms crossed, sheath of arrows on my back, and my bow held tightly in one hand. I kept my guard up, looking around for Walkers. Paranoia wouldn't stay off me.

"Alright, listen up," Shane said. "Those of you that have CB's, we'll be on channel forty. Those of you that have problems, don't have CB, don't have a signal, you just gotta honk your horn one time, and I'll stop the caravan." He cleared his throat. "Any questions?"

Morales looked at his wife, then at Shane. "We, uh, we're not going."

"We have family in Bermingham," his wife added. "We wanna be with our people."

"You're on your own, you won't have anybody to watch your back," Shane stated.

"We'll take the chance. I gotta do what's best for my family," Morales said.

Shane went around, grabbed a gun and a pack of ammo, gave it to Morales. Told him the bos was half full. I heard Daryl suck his teeth and mutter something under his breath. Morales' wife said something, but I wasn't paying attention. I was too busy keeping watching around us and at Tommy. They were crying as they said their goodbyes.

"Come on," Shane called. "Let's move out."

I looked at Tommy, who ran towards me. I was heading towards Dale's RV, but somebody caught me by the arm. I turned around. It was Daryl.

"You - - uh, wanna hitch a ride in my truck?" Daryl asked.

"You sure? I could always get a ride with Dale."

"That ol' RV probably doesn't have much room left."

I nodded at Daryl. "Thanks." I walked over to the passenger's side, opened the door, let Tommy got in first and then I went in. Tommy was in the middle of Daryl and I. My sheath of arrows were tucked in between my legs on the floor and my arrow was stretched over both my lap and Tommy's, inching close to Daryl. He turned on his car and we drove out of that campsite, I looked back, wondering if tonight they'll be a whole herd of Walkers, wanting to get to us.

Daryl's car was second to last and Tommy was stiff-still. I looked at him, he looked at me. _Don't read anybody's mind, _I though to him, hoping he'd read my mind and hear what I wanted to say. No, I'm not telepathic, but Tommy can actually talk to somebody using his thoughts. I can take telepathic messages, but I can't give. Like I sais before, I can't do squat.

The windows of Daryl's pick-up were down, and I'd put my hair tie in my backpack which is in the back, next to Daryl's motorcycle, so my dark hair was waving around in the wind. Stupid wind. Stop raping my hair.

The cars stopped. Everybody got out of their cars and I strapped on my sheath of arrows onto my back, then grabbed my bow and headed out the door with Tommy close behind me.

"Avery," Daryl said to me. The way he said my name made my stomach curl up.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"When we get to Dale's RV, can you climb to the top of that thing and keep an eye out for Walkers?"

I nodded and we walked to our group who was inspecting Dale's RV. Apparently, something fumed up in the engine. A tube, I think. I took Tommy with me. To the top of the RV, I mean. I wouldn't let him out of my sight. My bow was ready with an arrow, but I had it lowered so I wouldn't accidentally shoot an arrow.

Before I knew it, I was at the bottom, Shane was helping Jim down. He wanted it to be this way. He wanted to be left out here in the open, and to die. Tommy was near me, murmuring something. When everybody was saying their goodbyes - eventually I did, too - we walked back to our cars. I turned around, saw that Daryl was the last one to be there. He nodded at Jim, not knowing what else to say, and walked towards me. Er, his car, I mean. When we got in our cars, we drove off. This time, I was in the middle, which meant I was thigh-to-thigh to Daryl. The rip I had in my jeans was caused by my clumsiness the day the Walkers attacked, and it was the middle of my thigh. Pretty big, too, if you think about it. He was driving with his left hand on the steering wheel and his right arm and by his side. I could feel the heat coming off of him and seeping into my skin from the rip on my jeans. Damn, how can one man radiate that much heat?

We kept driving, for an hour or so, and Tommy had fallen asleep on the window. I sighed and leaned the back of my head against the seat. Daryl turned to look at me real quick, then looked back at the road. This would be a long ride.

We're here. I shook Tommy awake, we got out of Daryl's pick-up and I told Tommy to stay right behind me. I readied my bow with an arrow, not trusting my surroundings. It was almost night. Foolish of us, actually. Being out here when it's almost dark, when Walkers are out in a frenzy.

We covered our mouths, trying to be quiet, but that stench of pure _dead _was hanging onto us. We started to cough and then I saw it. A sign. _CDC. _We're here. There were so many dead bodies around, I was surprised Tommy wasn't freaking out. But he was near me, using me as his shield. He knows that when he's with me, he's safe from everything. And if it comes down to a Walker attack, I'd throw myself in front of Tommy and tell him to make a run for it. That kid is my life.

Daryl shimmied his way next to me, I was in the far right, and he nudged me. "Keep an eye out."

"Nah, ya think?" I asked sarcastically. "This place gives me the creeps." I try to whisper, but end up coughing. God, it smells horrid. Dead bodies were lying everywhere. I coudln't even walk in a straight line without stepping on a corpse.

We stopped in front of a metal door. It was getting darker. Rick and Shane said something, then tried to open the door. Shane banged on the door.

"There's nobody here," Daryl said.

"Then why are these doors down?" Rick asked, looking at the doors.

Daryl turned around, making me turn around with him. "Walkers!" he called. Before the Walker could take a step, Daryl shot it right in between it's eyes. "A setup!" Daryl exclaimed. "This is a god damn setup!"

"Shut up!" Shane spat, getting all up in his face. "You hear me? Shut up!" He turned to Rick. "Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we gonna go?" Carol cried, holding her daughter.

"We can't be this close to the city after dark," Lori said quickly. They argued and I held my position with Tommy behind me, clutching the back of my shirt and I was ready to kill any Walkers that come intact with us. We started to run back to the cars, and then Rick stopped us.

"The camera!" Rick cried. "It moved!"

"You imagined it," Dale told him.

"It moved. . ." he whispered and walked towards the door.

I was now beside Daryl, at the very back of the group, looking out for Walkers. I heard Rick yelling at the camera, Lori and Shane yelling at Rick to forget about it and to move on. By now, Tommy was crying, murmuring something. "We're gonna die," is what he said. That broke me. I shot two Walkers straight in their eyes and when I reached for another arrow, I looked at Daryl, who's eyebrows were raised is surprise. I then faced forward, noticed that the Walkers I'd shot were farther away than I'd expected. Barely in my field of vision. Daryl snapped back to reality and got back to his protective stance.

"You're killing us!" Rick screamed. "YOU'RE KILLING US!"

And then I heard something creak open. All of us were quiet as we turned around, a bright light shining at our faces. _Is it Jesus? _Tommy stepped in front of me, gawking at the light. He put on a smile and looked up at me. He knew this was going to happen. I could see it in those beady eyes of his. Friggin telepathic, pshychic kid. Lucky little terd.

This was it. We're saved.

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	4. TS-19

**TS-19 **

**[This is the last episode of Season 1, which means that I'll do Season 2 if I get 3 reviews! P.s. I've already done two chapters of Season 2, but it's up to you guys if you want it! I'll post chapter 1, episode 1 of season 2 as soon as I get the three reviews!]**

We made it inside, the doors shut, but Daryl and I turned our backs to the group and readied ourselves, as if the door would crash open with a herd of Walkers coming from the outside. Daryl nudged me and told me to watch out. I heard a gun being cocked, and I saw it was a man. He was standing on the top step of a doorway, holding a gun. He called out to us, asked if we were infected. Rick said that one of us was, but he didn't make it.

"Why're you here and what do you want?" The man asked, coming down slowly from the steps.

"A chance," Rick stuttered.

"That's asking an awful lot these days."

"I - - I know."

Everything went quiet for a second. Tommy grabbed my elbow, told me to put my bow down. I looked down at him for a moment, lowered my arm and reached behind me with my arrow to put it back in its sheath.

"You all have to do a blood test, that's the price of admission," the man said.

Rick nodded. "We can do that."

The man said something about the doors closing and they shut them. Daryl nudged me in the ribs, I winced, he apologized and lead me inside an elevator. I stood next to him, or should I say in _front_ of him. Which was uncomfortably awkward with a fully-packed elevator and my rear end was right there on his groin. Tommy wouldn't make it easier for me, the little prick. He stood in front of me, my arms dangling on his front, and my bow was arched over his chest. Tommy kept rocking front and back, making me bump into Daryl every now and then. But here's the thing. He. Didn't. Protest.

"Doctors always go around packin' heat like that?" Daryl asks to Doctor Edwin from behind me.

"If there were any left lying around, I'd familiarize myself. You people look harmless enough." He looked around, his eyes stopped at Tommy and Carl. "Expect you two," he said sarcastically. "I'll have to keep my eye on you." Tommy and Carl gave a harmless, innocent grin at Edwin and hi turned back around the face the wall of metal.

The doors flew open and everybody rushed out. I was sure everybody was claustrophobic after that elevator ride. Tommy sped up to catch up with Carl and I ended up fumbling with my feet. Daryl's hands grabbed my waist from behind and pulled me up. I wasn't on the ground, I just lost my balance. Told you I was clumsy.

"Geez, careful," Daryl said to me.

Doctor Edwin led us into a huge room where the lights were hung on the ceiling in a circle, lighting up the main desks and computers. Edwin confessed that he was the staff, the only doctor, and the only person working there. And that Vi 'woman' is actually a computer that has the ability to speak on command. It's like Siri. Then, we got our blood drawn in a different room. Andrea questioned Edwin by telling him that if they were infected, they'd all be running a fever. Dr. Edwin said that he'd already broken all the rules in the book by letting us in here, so he'd like to be thorough. Andrea got up and got lightheaded, lost her balance but that dark-skinned lady caught her.

"She hasn't eaten in days," the dark-skinned lady said. "None of us have."

Laughter burst through the whole place. Dale said something about letting Carl try a bit of whine.

"I'll try if you try," Carl said to Tommy.

Tommy looked at me. Everybody looked at me. I looked at Lori. She shrugged, giving up. I looked at Dale. Then at Tommy. "Only a sip and you're done." Dale served Carl and Tommy a little bit of wine and they drank it slowly. Tommy and Carl both put down their cups and put on a disgusted expression. Everybody started to laugh, and yes, even me. I patted Tommy's back. "Told you."

"Taste nasty," Carl said. I chuckled and looked over at Daryl, who was chugging wine.

I looked over at Glenn, who was holding a wine bottle, inspecting it, as if weighing his options.

"Not you, Glenn," Dale said.

"Drink, little man. I wanna see how red your face can get."

I was about to die. Not of laughter. Of lust. That face that Daryl made. Oh. My. God. I don't know if it was this wine or just the way I'm all of a sudden attracted to him, but I found him drop-dead sexy. I could feel my cheeks burning so I looked away. I looked straight ahead, saw Lori giving me that _I saw you _look. I blushed even harder.

"Seems like we haven't thanked our host properly," Rick said, standing up.

"He's more than just our host," T-dog added.

"BOO-YAH!" Daryl exclaimed, raising the wine bottle. We all chimed in, saying, "BOO-YAH!" more than intended.

Shane got all serious and looked at Edwin. Asked him where the other doctors were. Or what happened to them. Edwin told us about how everybody left when things got bad. How they left when things got worse. And when things were the worse than they could get, people 'opted out'. Killed themselves.

"Dude, you are _such _a buzzkill, man," Glenn said at Shane.

"Most of the facility's housing powers are down. So, you'll have to make do here," Edwin explained to us as we walked down a hall way. I was holding my bow tightly. I couldn't get over this stupid paranoia. I looked behind me to make sure Tommy was there. Saw Daryl instead. I gave him a worried look. He stepped aside, letting Tommy pass in front of him. I let out a sigh of relief and thanked him with a smile. I put my hand on Tommy's back and he ran up to Carl.

Edwin said something about electricity, but I zoned out. I zoned back in when I heard these magical six words: Go easy on the hot water. The group stopped. Glenn turned around with an awed look on his face. "Hot water," he chimed.

"That's what the man said," T-dog added.

I chose the room that was right next to me and I saw Daryl going into the room right across from mine. But he didn't see me go into my room.

A shower. That's what we all took. A nice, hot shower. Afterwards, I found robes in the closets. I gave on to Tommy even though it was too big for him. He said he was going to bed early, said he was tired. I told him I'd be right back, I wanted to go to that room Edwin talked about. I left the bedside lamp on for Tommy and gently shut the door with a liquor bottle in hand. This is a good night. Why not get the best of it and get drunk for one night?

The wreck room was full of books and arcade games. But they weren't plugged in. I wasn't intending to do so, either. I just wanted to roam around. When I got there, all I could do was gawk at the amount of books that were stacked on the shelves. I grabbed one, looked at the cover. It was _Stolen _by Lucy Christopher. I remember reading this when I was in eighth grade. Freaking loved it. I flipped through the pages, and memories flodded back to me. I remembered my friends, the way we used to make dirty little joke out of basically everything. How we used to ditch school to get drunk. But when I wanted to get into a college about FBI or anything like that, I stopped all that tom-foolery and stayed sharp. Straight A's since ninth grade. I found myself smiling at the book. I looked back at the book shelves. And then frowned.

I would never have any of those things back. My friends. My family - except for Tommy who's still with me. My dream job. I would give my life to hear the sound of a roaring jet plane. Just that. So I'd know that there was still some sort of human life out there.

Before I knew it, I was walking back and forth the wreck room, reading _Stolen _by Lucy Christopher. I blinked, looked up, saw that I was in the hallway. I took swigs of the liquor I had when I felt my throat dry up or when I felt like clearing my throat. I was going to go to my room to read the book, but once I got there, I was startled by my 'neighbor' throwing his door open and howling like a dog with an almost-empty liquor bottle in hand. He's so drunk.

"Oh, God," I murmur, shaking my head. He'll have a major hang-over tomorrow.

"How's it goin'?" Daryl asked me. He was shirtless, wearing nothing but black sleeping pants that looked like sweatpants. He was leaning his shoulder against the open door, a grin dab-smack on his face.

"You're drunk."

"Hell yes I - -" he stopped, then hiccupped. " - I am!"

I couldn't help but chuckle and shake my head again.

"Why're you readin'? You have a liquor bottle right there in your hand. Come on," he insisted. "Come inside and drink with me."

I looked at him, knowing where two drunks would lead to. "Uh, nah. I'm okay."

"Come _on,_" he pleaded, acting like a child and grabbing my arm. "Just a drink. And then you can go."

With a shrug, I walked into his room. Daryl took _Stolen _right from my hands and threw it somewhere in his bedroom. "No more readin'," he said to me. "I ain't just gonna let you sit around and bore yourself with a book."

"Reading is actually _fun_," I say to him, poking his bare chest with my index finger. Damn, he's so warm. I take a swig from my liquor bottle and let out a breath, feeling the liquor kicking in.

"I've never seen a lady drink straight outta a liquor bottle. Why didn't you use a cup?"

"Why would I? If I use cups, it's for more than one person. And Tommy does _not _drink. So I might as well just chug this down by myself."

"Wanna do it?"

I widen my eyes. "Excuse me?"

"You're a - -" he hiccups, making me laugh. " - - a perv. What I was talkin' about was: do you wanna have a chugging contest?"

"That's bad for you, you know. Drinking too much alcohol at once can kill you."

"Fuck it," Daryl says, throwing himself on his couch face-down. He's such a child. I cover my mouth as I laugh at his drunken immaturity. He sits up and waves a hand towards me. "Join me, Avers."

Avers? "Uh, no. I'll just - -" I look around, seeing that he's already trashed a bit of this place. " - - stand here."

Daryl sits up, groans as if he's a kid, gets up and walks towards me. I back away but the wall. And just like that, he scoops me up in his arms and I'm tempted to get off, and I try to, but he's just so warm. He's not hard like a rock, not beefy. But just right. The muscles in his arms ripple and I could see his stomach and chest muscles when he was standing up. He's gotten a bit tanner. Just half a shade. Not alot, but it brings out his eyes that look as silver as metal in some lights and iron-blue in others. But they're actually a deep blue that you could look into for what seemed like forever.

He threw me on his couch, I landed on my back. And when I tried to sit up, Daryl pressed a hand to my stomach, gently pushing me down. He didn't say anything to me nor did I say anything back. Our eyes were doing all the talking, even though I didn't know what the conversation was about. All I know is that my mind went blank and all I could was stare into those deep blues of his. I blinked, and without warning, Daryl's lips were tracing down my neck. Oh, shit.

"Daryl," I say quickly as soon as he gets to my collar bone. He looks up at me with glassy eyes. "Not now," I said. He doesn't say anything else. We just look into each other's eyes for a moment, and he stands up straight, makes his way to the kitchen. Then I see it. His tattoos. But worse of all: his scars. I stand up, rush towards him. Press a gentle hand on one of the scars that looked like they were caused by whips. "What happened?" I asked him.

It's as if Daryl has a switch inside of him that reads: Sober or Drunk. And right now he's definately flipped the switch to sober. He turns to me angrily. "It's nothin'," he says quickly, rushing towards his bedroom. He's attempting to close to door, but I'm too quick and I leap inside. Daryl throws on a t-shirt he dug around for in a drawer and I look at him.

"Daryl," I say. "What happened?"

"It's nothin'."

"Well, yeah." My voice is sarcastic. "Cause 'nothin' happens to be a bunch of scars of your back."

"I told you it's _nothin', _so lay off, woman!"

I wince. He sees the way I make a hurt expression of my face. Tries to apologize. But I lower my head, shake it, look back up at him. "I shouldn't have said nothing," I said to Daryl before he could apologize for the way he reacted. "I'm the one that should be apologizing." I apologize for bringing the topic of his scars up. Daryl instantly looks insecure. His eyes wander everywhere except for me.

"Do you want me to leave?" I ask him. But he doesn't answer. I shake my head. "Nevermind. I'll just - - go." I make my way to his front door, grabbing the liquor bottle I'd left on the floor, grab my book, and head to the door. Daryl makes his way to me. Puts his palm on the door before I have a chance to open it, and looks me in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, Avery," he says gingerly. God, his voice is to die for.

I can only nod. I take a drink from my liquor bottle, still looking up at him, and do something I didn't even think about. I wrap my arms around his front, not his neck, and my hands clutching at the back of his shirt, as if I didn't want to let go. And maybe, just maybe, I didn't. I didn't feel his arms around me until I felt him breathe - - yes, he held his breath when I hugged him, not expecting it happening. But he did put his arms around me.

"Don't be sorry," I said to him as I pulled away, taking another swig of the liquor. "I'm the one that shouldn't have asked you anything."

Daryl scoffs, managing a half-smile with one side of his lips. "What do you think would've happened if you hadn't seen my scars and we were on the couch?"

I give him a grin that had a feeling of pervy-ness, yet some innocence in there somewhere. I opened the door and walked out of it, before I closed the door, I turned around, noticing that Daryl wouldn't go back inside without seeing me go in my room. My hand was still on the doorknob.

With a quick breath, I say, "We'd be in your bed," and I shut the door. I bite my lip, hard, trying to stop a smile and forcing the burning in my cheeks to go away. I enter my bedroom and sigh.

I believe this is the best day ever since the world has decided to throw a shit-load of Walker bombs all over us.

I had washed Tommy's clothes when I got back our room after I went into Daryl's. Daryl. When I blink, he's right there behind my eyelids. His name is practically engraved into my brain. I smile everytime I think of him now. But I try to push that aside. He was drunk. It doesn't matter. Does it?

Tommy's dressed in the same clothes he wore yesterday, but they're washed. Dr. Edwin gave the women clothing from the basement that the other women left before they decided to leave to facility. I had on a long-sleeved green shirt that was some-what tight on my bust and loose when it ended at my hips, some how making my hips look bigger. And let's not talk about my bust.

I had jeans on. The kinds that feel like they're made from Hollister. They hug my legs kindly. Tommy whistled at me and I gave a noogie, then fixed his hair aferwards. We made our way into the dining room outside the computer 'tech' room to eat. I had my sheath of arrows strapped to my back and my bow in hand. Tommy and I ate quickly. I got up, feeling my head throbbing. I don't get hangovers too bad, but they still cling onto me like Walkers. I got up and got orange juice, then I saw Daryl come in. He gave a charming grin at me and I smiled at him, making my way back to the table. I set my glass down and drank. Tommy snatched my cup and drank from it.

T-dog made eggs. Oh, God. I'm not a big fan of eggs, myself. But I wasn't sure if there was anything else to eat, so I scarfed that down without breathing. The after taste was still there. Clinging onto my tongue. I almost threw up if it wasn't for Tommy handing me the glass of orange juice. Daryl noticed and covered his mouth with one hand, holding back a laugh. T-dog looked over at me.

"You okay, Avery?" T-dog asked me.

"Yeah," I answered. "I'm -"

"She doesn't like eggs," Tommy blurted. I nudged him in the ribs. Hard. Just so he can feel it. He flinched, rubbing his ribcage.

"Why didn't you tell me?" T-dog asked me. "I could'a made you something else."

I scoff, clearing my throat. "This isn't Burger King. I can't 'have it my way'. I just settled with what there was to eat."

"You could'a said something, though."

I shrugged. "Too late, I guess." I felt somebody tugging at my hair, as if braiding it, and I looked over my shoulder. It was Sophia. She said, "You have pretty hair. It's so dark and curly." I looked forward, Carol looked at me, but I mouthed, 'It's fine', to her. Carol nodded and I felt Sophia undoing the braid she did on me, started to do another one. A side braid. When she was done, I was surprised at how neat the results were. There wasn't a frizz in sight. The braid fell down my right shoulder, reaching to my belly button. Yeah, I have long hair. Too long, to be exact. Sophia tied it off with an elastic she got from Lori and ran back to Carol, sitting on her lap.

Then, Dale started talking. Then, Andrea. Before I knew it, we were all in front of a giant TV screen at the computer room. Dr. Edwin said something to Vi - a smart computer that can talk - and the screen flashed with a video of TS-19. Test subject nineteen.

"_Enhanced internal view_," Vi repeated after Dr. Edwin. The screen went deeper into the video of TS-19's brain. Lights pulsed back and forth through the chained links inside of it.

"What're those lights?" Shane asked.

"It's a person's life. Experiences, memories, it's everything. Somewhere, in all that organic wiring, in all those ripples of light - - is you. The things that makes you unique and human," Dr. Edwin explained. He sounded so wise and professional. The things I was seeing almost made me cry. Almost. But not really.

Daryl asked something, but I was too busy staring at him. Dr. Edwin kept explaining. And then the brain on the screen skipped to a darker view of it. A red light forced itself inside. Flickering into small parts of the brain.

"The human part, the 'you' part, that doesn't come back," Edwin explained. "It gets you up and moving. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

Then, a silent argument went on about Dr. Edwin not knowing where the other facilities are. Then he explained that he's been in the ground for almost a month, not seeing the outside world. Andrea started freaking out in the inside, letting out stuttered breaths.

"So, what you're saying is that there's nothing. Anywhere?" Andrea asked Dr. Edwin.

He. Didn't. Answer.

I looked down at Tommy who was standing right in front of me with his head on my chest. My arms were at his front, meeting at the wrists. He looked up at me with worried eyes. I recognized that look. He's given up. Oh, shit. No.

"I'm gonna get shit-face drunk. _Again!_" Daryl exclaimed, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Dr. Jenners," Dale started. "I know this has been taxing for you, and I hate to ask another question. But - -" he pointed to a clock. "That clock. It's counting _down_. What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators," Dr. Edwin stuttered. "They run out of fuel."

"And then?" Rick asked.

Edwin didn't answer. He just walked away.

"Vi," Rick called to the ceiling. "What happens when the power runs out?"

"_When the power runs out, facility wide decontamination will occur._"

I ask Lori if it's okay if Tommy can stay with Carl for a bit until I get back from the basement with the others. She says it's not biggie, and I run along Glenn, Rick, Shane and T-dog. Glenn's panting.

"Decontamination," Glenn pants. "What does that mean?"

"I don't like the way Jenners clammed up. The way he walked off like that."

I pointed to a door. "That way," I said to Rick, the others followed. He told us to check this way and that. I ran into Shane, not literally of course, and I followed him back to where Rick was. Before I stepped five feet close to them, lights went out.

"_Emergency lights activated."_ It was Vi. The lights came back on.

"Did you cut the lights off?" I asked them.

"No, it just went out," Rick said. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, alot of dead generators and more _empty _fuel tanks than I can count," T-dog said.

I sigh, look up. "I'm gonna check the rest of us. See what's going on upstairs."

Rick looks at me, nods, and I'm off running.

"Why's the air off?" Carol asks. "A-and the lights in our room?"

I'm pinned against the wall, letting Dr. Jenners pass, then I peal myself off and breathe.

Daryl pokes half his body out from his open door. "What's goin' on? Why's everythin' turnin' off?" In one hand there's a liquor bottle. And then Jenners takes it from him. The group follows Jenners and I'm right behind Daryl with Tommy hand in mine. I grip my bow hard and all I hear is Daryl calling out to Jenners, "Ay! What the hell is that supposed ta mean? Whatddyu mean it's shutting itself down? How can a _building _do anything?"

"You'd be surprised," Dr. Jenners said.

We exit the hall way and come back to the computer room. I squeeze my way through the group and end up beside Andrea - - and Daryl. I swear, I'm not even trying to get near him. Dr. Jenners holds out the liquor bottle and Daryl snatches it back. Dr. Jenners walks up the steps and Shane bolts towards him, but Rick holds him back.

"Lori, Carl," Rick says to them. "Get your things. We're getting out of here. NOW!"

Everybody starts freaking out about Rick's sudden raise of voice, and as soon as I turn on my heel, dragging Tommy with me, an alarm goes off and a red light flicks on and off, startling me.

"What's that?" Shane asks, as startled as I am.

Nobody answers. The only noise I hear is the sound of my heart racing and that stupid alarm stinging my ears.

"Everybody, get your things!" T-dog called. "We gotta go! NOW!" It's a good thing I left my things at Daryl's truck. Or was that a stupid idea? I'm about to take off again, and I look over my shoulder. I see an ax. And then another. I can chop Jenners arm clean off. And then the doors shut. Everybody freaks out, scattering like ants. Daryl freaks out with anger pouring out of him. He runs to Dr. Jenners, about to slam his head with the liquor bottle, but Shane and T-dog hold him back. Shane and Rick try to convince him to open the doors. But he says he doesn't control that, the computers do.

"It's better this way," Dr. Jenners says.

"What is? What happens in - " Rick say, stops, then looks at the clock that counts down. " - in twenty-eight minutes?"

Shane gets angry, slams his hands on the seat and Rick starts to argue with Jenners. Dr. Jenners gets up from his seat and starts screaming.

"YOU KNOW WHAT THIS PLACE IS?" Jenners yells. "We protected the public from very. Nasty. STUFF!" He yelled examples of diseases that can kill you. Kept on screaming about how this is better. He clears his throat and sits down, fixing his lab coat. "In the event of a catastrophic event or terrorist attack - " he gave more examples. He said something about HIT's and Rick questioned him about it. Dr. Jenners called out to Vi, told her to explain and she did.

I covered my mouth as I heard her. HIT's are explosives. A bomb. We're literally standing on a ticking time bomb. I feel like crying. No, I can't die like this. _Tommy _shouldn't die like this. NO! I run to where I saw the axes, saw Daryl running to the door, throwing his liquor bottle at it. He turned around, yelled, "OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" at Dr. Jenners. I grab the ax and run as fast I can to the door. Daryl looks at me.

"Outta my way!" I call. Rick and Daryl move out of my way like I told them to. I slam the ax hard on the door. I don't have time to look around, but I see Daryl with an ax, he's next to me, slamming his ax on the door. I can feel everybody's gaze on Daryl and I as we try to break the door. I can hear Tommy crying, he's curled up in between Carol and Lori who are holding Carl and Sophia. Lori says some things to Tommy, trying to soothe him. I hear Tommy cry again . . and that breaks me. We can't die like this. I stop, taking a breath, and then I look at Dr. Jenners. I get even angrier. I run towards him with the ax I was holding. So does Daryl, he runs a bit faster, but I run quicker.

"Those doors are made to withstand a rocket launcher," Dr. Jenners says to Shane.

"WELL YOU'RE HEAD'S NOT!" I cry, swinging the ax backwards to strike at Jenners. T-dog, Dale, and Rick have to hold me back. They're all saying, "WHOA WHOA! AVERY! BACK OFF!" and then they push me back. I stop, panting when I stop trying to bash Dr. Jenner's head open, and walk away, dropping the ax on the floor. Tommy gets up and runs towards me. I wrap him in my arms and he cries on my chest. My skin's hot because of how angry I am. How _dare _Dr. Jenners keep us in here against our will? Forcing us to stay here, waiting until a bomb goes off and we all die? That's freaking homocide!

The next thing I know, Shane's holding a gun to Jenner's face. A part of me is chanting, "_Blow his brains out!_" and then I snap back to reality. If Dr. Jenners dies, so do we. I look around. Find Daryl's eyes on me. He looks pissed off. Others are crying, while I'm so angry, you can pratically see fumes escaping my nose and ears. I turn around, see my ax, tell Tommy to stay close behind. I pick up the ax, run back to the closed door. I have my sheath of arrows strapped on my back and my bow is right next to the door. I make way to the door and strike at the metal, hard. I groan, feeling beads of sweat forming on my forehead. I see that Daryl's beside me again, and we're trying our best to get through the door. Tommy's a few yards behind me, keeping his safe distance between him and the ax.

I feel like giving up, the muscles in my arms stinging like hell, and when I'm about to drop the ax, the door opens. I throw the ax to the side, grab my bow, grab Tommy, and run. Daryl screams, "COME ON!" and takes off beside me. We climb up the dark steps and through doors. Before I knew it, we're in the main building. Tommy's having an anxiety attack. I get mad and run towards Rick who's holding an ax. I snatch clean from his hands and run towards a window. I slam the ax hard on the glass. It won't break. I'm too busy hitting the window that I notice Daryl's hitting the glass, too. It's no use.

T-dog calls, "Look out!" and we move out of the way. He slams a chair against the wall. It does nothing. Shane tells everybody to move. He cocks his gun and shoots. It manages to make a dent. But that's it. Everybody scattering like ants again, trying to figure out how to break the glass. Time's running out. I can hear my pulse thumping in my ears. Shit. Shit. SHIT! I grab the ax again, but Carol says something to Rick, holds out a - - grenade? - - and Daryl looks at me, shakes his head, signaling me to put it down.

"LOOK OUT!" T-dog cries. Everybody scatters. I trip over Sophia and I'm face-down on the ground. I feel a sharp pain on my side but I don't pay much attention to it. But I'm too close to Rick and the window. To the grenade. I feel a pair of solid, warm hands grabbing me and lifting me up. It's Daryl. He's holding my wrist as we run. Rick has already put the grenade down. Daryl forces me on my knees, then we're all flat on the ground. My arms are around Tommy's and Daryl's arms are protectively around me.

_BOOM! _The glass breaks! As I get to my feet - pulling Tommy up with me - with the help of Daryl, I can't help but bite my lip, fighting back a scream that matched that of an excited soccer fan. Everybody gets up and runs towards the window. First Shane goes out, then Rick with his family, Carol and T-dog, then Daryl. He holds out his arms for Tommy, he gets down. Then he holds out his arms and helps me to the ground. We then run. And the first thing we see? Walkers. I ready my bow and arrow. But Daryl tells me not to waste my arrows. And hands me a handgun. Rick, Daryl and Shane have already taken out all of them. Tommy and I run to Daryl's car and I hop in first, then pull Tommy in as soon as I touch the seat. Tommy shuts the door and there's Daryl sitting in the driver's seat. I'm the middle. Damn, not matter how much I try, I can't get away from him.

Then I see Andrea and Dale. They're choosing the path of living. They're coming back!

"Andrea! Dale! GET DOWN!" Lori yells at them.

There's only seconds left. Daryl says something to me, and he has to repeat it. Says something about my shirt, then he looks at the CDC building. We hear Lori screaming. And the next thing I knew, Tommy was curled up in my arms again, I was his human shield. Daryl threw himself on me, shielding me. Then, the ground shook fiercely. I could feel the heat from the explosion radiating into Daryl's pick-up truck. Tommy's shaking. Then, the shaking stops. Daryl slowly gets up, lets out a breath, and looked at me. Tommy and I sat up, and he's still in my arms. Daryl puts a hand on my knee. I look at it.

"You okay?" Daryl asks me.

I man up and look him in the eyes. Nod. I feel that pain in my side again. Tommy touches me where it hurts. Daryl looks at my shirt. At my side. His hair is stuck to his face with persperation and beads of sweat are smudged on his cheek. All of a sudden, he lifts up my shirt and I feel like slapping him. How dare he disrespect me!?

"You're bleeding," he says.

I look at my side. I remembered holding my bow and arrow. I guess the arrow must've slipped and it cut me. "I'm fine," I say. "It's just a cut."

The RV starts moving. I saw Dale and Andrea get inside. They're safe. We are, too. For now. Daryl starts his pick-up and our group starts to move again. I look at Tommy, tell him I love him. He says it back. And he buried the side of his head on my arm. My other arm presses against Daryl. I look at him. Thank him for protecting me, he says, "It was nothin'." But I can see the sparkles in his eyes. I look away and smile. Just like that, we're off on the road again. I feel relieved to have gotten out of the CDC. When we're on road, I start to cry. Not bawl and have a tantrum, but the ocassional tear. No sobbing noises, just silent sniffles and wiping away my tears. I almost died. _Tommy _almost died. We all would've. Damn, I'm just lucky we all survived.

**End of Season 1**

**3 reviews if you want me to update for Season 2!**


	5. What Lies Ahead - Season 2

**Sorry it took so long! I was disappointed that I didn't have 3 reviews for chapter 4. But oh well. Here's season 2! **

**This time it'll be simple: I need 2 reviews to post chapter 6. Just 2.**

* * *

**What lies ahead - Season 2 Episode 1**

We stopped by a gas station, getting needed supplies: extra bottles of water, nonperishable foods, extra gasoline, and a few other things that we stumbled upon. Then, Daryl ditched his truck. I led Tommy to Dale's RV since there was barely enough room in Rick's car, and then Daryl hollered at me. I gave Tommy his backpack full of nonperishable foods and a few water bottles, and made my way to Daryl. Dale put a large, square Band-Aid he found in a box full of First-Aid things. The cut was deeper than I thought it'd be. And Andrea had to hold me down while Dale dabbed my wound with alcohol. It stung like a bitch. Not gonna lie. Of course it'll hurt. And when Daryl came in, he thought they were killing me. I was biting on a towel as Dale tried to stitch it up, but I stopped him right when I saw a needle. I told him to just put a Band-Aid on it. And that's what he did. It's still bleeding now, just a bit, not alot. And my shirt's blood-stained. Daryl found a few shirts and told me to try them on for size. He found a t-shirt size small in men. I put it on. A nice-fitting size. I thanked him, he flashed me a half-smile, and walked away. I found a leather jacket, slipped that on over the white t-shirt.

"Ya know there ain't enough room for you in the RV or in Rick's car," Daryl said to me.

"I thought I'd hitch a ride on Dale's roof," I jokingly said. That cracked a smile on Daryl's lips.

"You wanna ride on my motorcycle?"

I raised my eyebrows. "I've never been on one before."

Daryl threw his legs over his motorcycle, patted the seat behind him. "There's a first time for everythin', right?"

I sighed, looked back at Tommy. I turned back to Daryl. "I - - guess so."

"You can put your bow back there with my crossbow."

With a nod, I strapped my bow on top of Daryl's crossbow and left my sheath of arrows over my shoulders. My backpack with my supplies were in Rick's car next to Tommy. We were all set.

"Ready?" Daryl asked me over his shoulder. He reached under him and pulled out a helmet. "Safety first." And with that, he handed it to me and I strapped it on. And just like that, we were on the road again. It didn't feel safe. I didn't mean with Daryl, I meant not having Tommy with me. I was on-edge. But somehow, this blue-eyed redneck with a soft side made me feel safe. Let's just hope it stays that way.

We've stopped when we saw a highway piled with flipped-over, abondend cars. I gripped onto Daryl's side hard, getting even more uneasy.

"Ouch," Daryl protested. "Damn, loosen your grip a bit. We'll be fine, Avery. Just take a breath."

I started to shake, as if I was cold. _Stay calm._That voice wasn't mine. It was Tommy. That telepathic little rascal. I can't help but scoff when Tommy says _you're such a dweeb. Looking all cool on that motorcycle. _

Everybody got off for two reasons, one: there were cars in the way and two: Dale's RV decided to breakdown right here. Daryl and I got off, and I was reunited with Tommy. I told him to stay near me. Dale started talking about being stuck here without food or water - - then Daryl opened up a trunk and found a bunch of supplies. Dale told us to look for more supplies, to see if we can find any water while he fixed the RV. Since my backpack didn't have alot in it, I put my things in with Tommy's in his backpack and used my own as a place to hold the supplies I'd find in the cars.

I wandered around, without Daryl - since he was too busy looking for tools and weapons - while I was out looking for food and water. I stumbled across Shane who found a truck load of water. He opened one up and bathed himself in the water.

"Feels like you're bein' baptized!" Shane exclaimed at Glenn. I laughed and turned around, looking at my surrioundings, making sure there were no Walkers. And for a moment, I was fine. In a matter of minutes, I found clothes for men and women, shoved them in my backpack. Then I found canned foods. My backpack was nearly full. And then I looked around. Couldn't see Tommy. I freaked out, run around until I saw him digging around a trunk. I heard Rick and turned around.

"Get down!" Rick hissed. "Walkers!"

I crouched and ran to Tommy, shoving him to the ground and pushing him under a car, squeezing in beside him. It's a good thing this car had enough space underneath or else my sheath of arrows wouldn't have fit in there. I looked around. _Please let Daryl be okay. _Tommy grabbed my hand and I curled my arms around him, bringing us closer, taking us away from the sides of the car. I looked around. Saw Daryl covered by a Walker. At first, I thought I was dead, and I felt myself break in the inside. The Walkers passed by and I was at the brink of getting out of there and taking off. But that'd be dangerous. Too dangerous. I stayed down until the herd passed. I hate their moans and groans. It's so horrifying and annoying the way a human can make those noises. I then looked around again, held Tommy closer. Saw Sophia. She took a peak behind her, sticking out her head, and then a Walker spotted her. It came at her and she made her way out from under the car, running into the woods. I wanted to go and help her, but Rick was already behind her and the Walkers.

My side hurt from lying down too flat like this. I put a hand under me, touching my side, and when all the Walkers were gone, I looked around, the rolled out from underneath. I was on hands and knees, looking under the cars for the feet of Walkers. Nope, they're all gone. Good. I stand up, but end up hunched over a car, holding my side with one hand, and sustaining myself with one hand against the car in front of me. Tommy crawled out from under the car, so did everybody else, and he pulled on the side of my leather jacket.

"You okay?" Tommy asked.

I nod weakly. "Yeah. I'm fine. It's just my side. It'll pass."

As I stand up straight, I notice that everybody's huddled near the side of the road. Carol's crying. Oh, yeah. I forgot about Sophia.

* * *

Tommy stood next to Andrea, I told him to stay there with them. I wanted to join Rick, Daryl and Shane as they looked for Sophia. She's lost. She just ran off.

"You sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked Rick, looking into a small cave made out of twigs and leaves.

"I left her _right _here," Rick assured. He explains where he lead the Walkers, somewhere to the right, near the creek. "She was gona by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off and ran to the group." I rolled my jeans up to my knees and stepped in the water, feeling the refreshingness on my feet. I had my bow ready with an arrow. Rick kept talking. "I told her to go that way - -" he pointed behind me, to Glenn. "- - and to keep the sun on her left shoulder."

Daryl says something to Glenn, to get off the mud, he's covering up the tracks.

"She doesn't even know her lefts from her rights," Shane said.

"She understood me just fine," Rick spat.

"Come on, man. She's tired and scared. She had her close call with two Walkers. God, I wonder 'bout how much you said stuck."

"There're clear prints right here," Daryl interrupted. "She did what you said, she headed back to the highway." He called to everybody, "Let's spread out!" Rick let me go in front of him and Shane helped me up. We were walking slow behind Daryl, and then he stopped, got on a knee, looked at the ground.

"We were doin' just fine until we got to right here," Daryl said. "She kept going. Veered off that way." He pointed to the right.

"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked.

"Maybe she saw something," I said. "Spooked her? Maybe ran off?"

"Walker?" Glenn asked.

Daryl shook his head. "I don't see any other footprints. Just her's."

"So what do we do?" Shane asked. "What're gonna tell Carol?"

"You and Glenn go back up to the highway. Try to calm the panicking. Tell them we're on the trail, doing everything we can. But most of all," Rick started. "Keep everybody calm."

Shane nodded, told Rick that he'd come up with a few more chores. He nodded at Glenn and they made their way back up to the highway. When Shane and Glenn were back up, I looked at Rick.

"Why do you need me here?" I asked.

"You have the eyes of a hawk and we'll need you for protection."

"Hm. A _girl _protecting two men?" I grinned. "Seems fair enough."

Daryl scoffed, got up, pointed behind me, and we started walking that direction. I stayed behind Rick who was behind Daryl, so I was in the very back. I had my bow ready to strike. I knew I should've been looking for Walkers, keeping an eye out for them, but I was too busy making goo-goo eyes at Daryl. I could see his bare, dirt-covered arms very well thanks to his ripped-at-the-sleeves shirt. I could see his tanning muscles rippling whenever he'd swing his arms back and forth or when he grabbed his crossbow to shoot. He's just so - -

"Tracks are gone," Rick said.

"They ain't gone," Daryl assured. "She came through here." He pointed to in between some trees, and walked through there.

"How can you tell?" I asked. "I can't see anything. Just dirt, leaves, and more dirt."

"You wanna keep on askin' questions or you want me to keep on trackin'? So we can get our asses back up that interstate."

We stayed quiet. Kept on walking. My arms started to get tired and I lowerd my bow, letting my guard down for a split second. Something rustled behind some trees, we all ducked. There's a Walker. I can smell it's rotting flesh. Daryl nudged me.

"You wanna take this one?" Daryl asked me in a whisper.

I looked at the Walker. It was just one. No harm, right? I mean, I have a bow readied with an arrow and a dagger. I win by default. "Yeah," I said with a nod.

"If anything goes wrong," Rick starts. "We're right behind you."

I nod, get up and make my way down a hill. Whistle at the Walker the way a person whistles to their dog. The Walker lets out a cry and comes at me. I aim. Go for shooting. See Daryl far from the Walker, ready to shoot. I panick, seeing the Walker to close. It's too close. I drop my bow and arrow, reach for Daryl's dagger I had in my back pocket, and strike the Walker in between it's eyes. I started panting from the panick. Rick and Daryl walk up to me. I retrieve the dagger, and my bow and arrow. I shove the dagger in its sheath then in my pocket it goes.

"What was that about?" Rick asked.

I look at From Rick to Daryl and back and forth. "I panicked."

Daryl scoffs again. Looks around. Calls out to Sophia. Waits a moment. No response. Rick starts picking at the Walker's nails, then at it's teeth. And I'm about to hurl.

"What're you doing?" I ask him, trying to hold back the little lunch I had.

"Checking for skin under the fingernails. He fed recently," Rick answered. He pulled out a chunk of flesh from his teeth.

"What type of flesh is it?" Daryl asked.

_Why would you ask that? _I thought to myself. _No! Just shut up and let it be! Ew! What the Hell? _I'm about to hurl all over the place, covering the Earth with my vomit. Gross, right?'

"Only one way to find out," Rick answers.

"Oh, shit," I protest, covering my mouth. I shove my arrow back in its sheath and hold my bow in one hand while my other one is over my lips. Rick pulls out a knife, but Daryl shakes his head.

"Let me do it," Daryl says, pulling out a giant ass knife that makes me want to faint. Ah, shit. I'm about to witness him cutting open a Walker. I'm starting to wish I stayed back with Tommy. Daryl - who's still standing - swings his leg to either side of the Walker and buries his knife in the Walker. I look away, hearing the sloppy _squish squish _sounds it makes. I'm about to throw up, literally, but then I see something that makes me want to die of laughter. Daryl's facial expressions. I bite back a laugh, force myself to think depressing thoughts so the laughter would go away. Daryl's facial expressions. They look so - - sexual. _Get your head out of the gutter, Avery, _I say to myself. I clear my throat, snap back to reality. Take a breath in through my nose. Almost cough up my lunch. I lift up the collar of my white t-shirt and bury my face in there, trying to breathe in air that doesn't smell like rotting flesh.

Daryl rips open the Walker's stomach, I close my eyes and look away, concentrating on anything else other than those horrible sounds and that awful stench. He buries his hands deep in the flesh and I look at how close he is to me. I'm sitting on the ground, crisscross-applesauce style, and I can feel his hot breath on my leg. I get goosebumps all over my body. he threw the lump of I-don't-know-what on the ground, Rick cut it open, pulled out an animal's skull.

"This Walker had woodchuck for dinner," Daryl stated.

Rick and Daryl cleaned off their gloves and we all stood up. Headed back to camp. Poor Carol. I can't even imagine what would happen when she finds out we didn't find her daughter.

"Atleast we know," Rick said. "Atleast we know."

* * *

"They're back!" Shane called.

I walked out from behind Daryl, making my way over the road-border and the next thing I knew, Tommy's arms were around me. "I knew you'd come back," he said in my ear. He pealed himself off of me, looked around. "Where's Sophia?"

I look at the ground, then at him. "The trail went cold." I stood up, Tommy slipped his hand into mine and I saw the about-to-cry Carol.

"We can't leave my daughter out there all on her own," Carol protested, her voice shaky. "To spend the night all alone in the woods."

"Out in the dark's no good," Daryl said with a tired voice. "We'll just be trippin' over ourselves. More people getting lost."

"But she's _twelve! _She can't be out there on her own. Didn't you find anything?"

"I know this is hard," Rick started, trying to calm her. "But I need you not to panic. We know she was out there."

"And we tracked her for a while," I said, trying to clear the air since I was with them.

"We have to make this an organized effort," Rick explained. "Daryl knows the woods better than anybody."

Carol looks at Daryl's hands and Rick's shirt. "Is - - is that blood?" She starts panting.

"We took down a Walker," Rick said. "There was no sign of it being near Sophia."

"How can you know that?" Andrea asked.

Rick looked at Daryl, Daryl looked at me, I looked at him. "We cut that son of a bitch open," Daryl said. "Made sure."

Carol sits down, Lori accompanies her. She's taking in, processing, everything that she's just heard from the people that've been trying to save her daughter.

"How can you just leave her? To be killed?" Carol asked at Rick. "How can you just _leave _her?"

"Those two Walkers were on us," Rick said, talking about when the Walkers came at Sophia. "I had to draw them away. It was her best chance."

"How is she supposed to find her way back? She's just a child," Carol protested, tears streaming her cheeks. "She's just a child!"

* * *

**Morning **

Rick rolls out the bag of weapons Carl found in a truck of a dead man. "Everybody takes a weapon." Tommy looks at me, I shake my head. He's too young to carry a freaking machete, or an ax. I won't let people look at my little brother as a murder. Even if there's a Walker near by. I'm taking it out. Not Tommy. Enough said. I already have my weapon. My bow and sheath of arrows. Lori goes in to take a weapon, so does Glenn.

"These aren't the kins of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea asked.

"We've been over that," Shane said, leaning against the RV. "Only Rick and I are carryin'. Don't need people poppin' off rounds everytime a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about."

"Say somebody shoots at the wrong moment, a herd happens to passing by. See? Now that's gonna be game over for all of us. So you need to get over it."

Andrea shuts up, Shane just put a permanent period to that argument.

"The idea is to take the creek, get five miles, turn the corner and back over the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

"Stay quiet," Rick tells the group as Daryl walks away from it. "Stay sharp. Keep space between you, and always keep in sight of each other." I look behind me, see Daryl nodding at me, signaling me to come over there. I hear Rick telling Dale to keep on repairing the RV, that we need it up and running. I went over to Daryl who was telling me to try and find more supplies. We need the most from this place to keep going for a few more days. Or maybe a week or so.

And then we all haer Andrea arguing with Dale. The argument goes on for a minute or two, and I see a tear coming from Andrea. I hate to see people cry. Shit, just get it over with already.

Before I knew it, we were already walking down the highway. I was beside Daryl, and Tommy was behind me, in front of Rick. Tommy's hands were balled up on the ball of my leather jacket and my bow was ready but lowered. I kept a sharp eye out for any Walkers. Then, we stop. Everybody crouches down and Daryl points to a tent.

"She could be in there," I whisper.

"There's a bunch of things that could be in there," Rick corrected. Daryl gets up, so does Shane, Rick and I. Tommy takes a step but I tell him to stay with the group, he does so and I follow behind Shane. Daryl puts a finger up, signaling us to stay. He walks in with his knife pulled out. He searches through the tent, peaks inside. Nothing there. He shrugs at us, telling us with body language that he didn't find anything. Rick called Carol over, she called out Sophia's name to the tent. Daryl slowly unzipped the tent's flap and opened it. He went in. I smelled the rotten stench of flesh. Daryl came back out. Said it wasn't Sophia. That's when we heard it.

A bell.

From a church.

We ran. Fast. We found a cemetery, and I ran behind Daryl, grabbing onto Tommy's little hand.

"Wrong church!" Shane called. "Doesn't have a bell!"

We run in the church, see three Walkers sitting on the benches in there. Shane, Rick and Daryl take out the Walkers. I cover Tommy's eyes so he won't see anything. When they're done killing the Walkers, we run outside, hearing the bell again. It's coming from a speaker. Glenn rips out the timer, making the bell shut off. Carol covers her mouth, goes back in the church, and we do, too. I stand in the back, near the door, with my back against the wall, my arms crossed, my bow next to me. Oh, and did I mention that Daryl's beside me, too? Tommy's in front of me, and when he sees Carol praying to God, he peals off of me and makes his way to the front, getting on his knees and looking up at the statue of Jesus on the cross. He says something and I hear the words _parents, mom, dad, _and _Avery._ I can't make out the rest of the words because he's whispering. I sigh.

"He's a good kid," Daryl says to me.

I nod, turning my head to look at him. "I know." That's all we say to each other. I'm too busy looking at Tommy, and after a while, I lower my head, close my eyes, and decide to do a little prayer of my own to God. I ask him to take care of my little brother. To let him live a long life, at least my age. He's only a kid. He can't - shouldn't - die like this. At a young age and by Walkers ripping him apart. I ask him to give Tommy all the guarding God can give to a person, I told him that I don't care if I don't get protection, I just want Tommy to be safe.

I open my eyes, feeling my cheeks damp with tears. I sniffle, wipe my face with the sleeve of my jacket. Tommy walks back to me and I get on my knees when he wants to hug me.

"Mom and dad are proud of you," Tommy whispers in my ear. This isn't weird. Tommy can read minds, the living and the dead. My parents just talked to Tommy via Heaven. "They said to keep on going. To be strong."

I feel like crying again, but Tommy hugs me tight, comforting me. I tell Tommy I love him and I stand up. Daryl's staring at me. I wipe my face again. "Sorry," I say quietly. "Got a bit too emotional."

"Touching," Daryl says. "That little moment of yours."

Tommy went over to Daryl, picked up his crossbow that wasn't ready with an arrow, lugged it in his arms, and made gun sounds with his mouth, pretending to shoot arrows out of it. He laughed and looked up at Daryl. "You still haven't taught me how to shoot one of these things."

Daryl manages a half-smile, one of those smiles that only go up on one part of your lips. "When we get time. After the Sophia thing, okay?"

Tommy hands Daryl's crossbow back to him, presses his back against the wall and slides down until he's sitting. "Is Carol done praying?"

"I'm sure she'll be done in a bit," I say to him. Tommy nods, leans the back of his head against the wall behind him. Daryl puts his back against the wall and handed his crossbow to Tommy, told him how to pull the cord back and how to shoot the arrow. He told Tommy that when everything's straightened out, Tommy'll actually be able to shoot an arrow. He'll learn from Daryl.

* * *

Tommy's in front of me. I'm beside Daryl who's leading Carol, Lori, Glenn, Andrea and I to finding Sophia. Lori puts her backpack down, unzips it.

"I see you have a gun," Andrea says.

Lori, frustated, digs into her backpack, pulls out the gun, and hands it to Andrea. "You want it that bad? Here, take it. I'm sick of the dirty looks you give me."

Andrea looks at Lori with the gun in her hand. Stays quiet. I turn towards them, tapping my foot on the ground. Lori goes to Carol, tells her to stop blaming Rick for what happened to Sophia. That it's not her fault. It was the Walkers'. Nobody else would've done what Rick did the way he did it and with that, Lori took a swig of her water bottle and Andrea gave Lori back her gun. Still didn't say anything.

"The best thing we can do right now is look for the girl," Daryl said, interrupting the silent conversation they were having. "Now, are y'all gonna keep on arguin' or are you gonna help me look? Am I the only one who's sane around here?" I wanted to raise my hand. "Good Lord." He turned around and walked behind me, starting the trail again. I caught up beside Daryl, kept looking on the grond, looked for whatever he was looking for.

We walked for half an hour, and we took a short break, taking a sip from our water bottles. I let Tommy have the rest of my water bottle and watched everybody eat. Daryl was standing up while all of us were sitting down, looking around for Sophia or Walkers. I looked around, stood up. "The trees," I said to Daryl, pointing up at a big, sturdy one. "We might be able to see more ground if we're higher."

"You know how to climb trees?" Andrea asked.

I looked over at her, nodded. "The trick is to keep your feet close to the base of the tree so the branches won't break. It's an art and not meant to be taken literal." I grin at Andrea, who manages a smile. And looked up at the tree I pointed at. "Want me to take a look?"

"Knock yourself out," Daryl said. "Tell me if you see anythin'."

I nodded, put down my bow and sheath of arrows near Tommy, then started to climb that tree. The limbs were weak, as if it hadn't rained in forever. It was dry and felt like it'd break any second now. In a matter of minutes, I was at the top of the tree. I looked around.

"You see anythin'?" Daryl called up to me.

I grabbed hold of the thick branches and looked down. "No, not yet!" I called back. I looked around again. Heard something. A gun shot. I heard Tommy gasp, and I made my way down that tree, taking the branches two at a time, and landing on my feet when I hit the ground. That gun shot - - -

With a steady breath, I say, "What was that?"


	6. Bloodletting

**Very disappointed. Not a single REVIEW. From now on, I don't care if it's been a year, I won't update until I get atleast TWO reviews for this chapter. I mean really, it's been like two months. So disappointed on my readers. TWO REVIEWS OR I WILL NOT UPDATE!**

**Bloodletting - Episode 2 Season 2**

"What was that?" I asked to nobody in particular, looking around. I looked down at Tommy. Saw him covering his ears. He was reading their thoughts. Unwillingly. I got on my knees and pried his hands away from his ears. "Look at me," I whispered. "Just breathe and focus on me."

Tommy gave a small nod and I got back up, strapping on my sheath of arrows and my bow.

"You heard that, too," Lori said.

"They were probably just taking down a Walker," Daryl said.

"Please don't patronize me. Rick wouldn't risk it. Even for a Walker. Shane wouldn't, either." She swallowed hard. "They'd do it quietly."

I sigh, tell the group that we need to hurry, there might be a Walker somewhere out here. That we need to find Sophia.

"So, what do we do?" Lori asks.

"We beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back up to the highway," Daryl explained.

"I'm sure they'll hook back up with us back at the RV," Andrea added to Lori, to keep her train of thought clear. Lori nodded, looked around nervously, and we began to walk. I stayed behind the group, and then Andrea walked towards Carol.

"I'm sorry for what you're going through," she said to Carol. "I know how you feel."

Carol managed a thankful smile. "I suppose you do. Thank you." She looks around the forest and then back at Andrea. "The thought of her, out here by herself, it's the not knowing that's killing. I just keep hoping and praying that she doesn't wind up like Amy."

Andrea looks at her with beady eyes and a matching frown.

Carol coveres her mouth, shakes her head. "That's the worst thing I've ever said."

She nods, pushing away the hurtful comment. "We're all hoping and praying with you. For what it's worth."

Daryl stomped towards them. "I'll tell you what it's worth. Not a damn thing. It's a waste o' time, all this hopin' and prayin'. We're gonna locate that little girl - -" he looks at Carol. "She's gonna be just _fine._" He turns around. "Am I the only one that's sane around here? Good Lord." And with that, we're off walking behind Daryl. Come on, Sophia, where are you?

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxo**

The trees have gone thinner. The air's crisp and the sun's going down. Oh, and my paranoia? Stronger than ever. Walkers come out hungrier and in herds at night. More dangerous than when the sun's up. Like vampires.

My side still hurt, that massive Band-Aid that Dale put on it for me was already bled through. I took a look at it when nobody was looking and saw that it was red and swollen. I gulped. _It's not infected, _I lied to myself, but I've seen an infection before. And it's just like this. I put the Band-Aid back, knowing that I had no more Band-Aids with me. In the RV, yes. But I forgot to check my wound there.

"The sun's goin' down," Daryl says. "We should call it a day."

"Let's head back," Lori adds.

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asks.

"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow."

Daryl whistles, walks behind us, and we're off behind him, heading back to the highway. I catch up to Daryl, ask him what our plan is for Sophia.

"We lost her trail," Daryl says. "But she shouldn't be far from here. You know how parents always tell their kids: if they're ever lost, stay where you are?"

"She didn't stay where Rick told her to stay at."

"Geeks were after her. Plus she's just a kid. So I wonder how much of what Rick said actually stayed."

I sigh. "I can't even imagine what she's going through right now."

"Who?"

"Sophia. And Carol. Dear God, I hope they're both okay."

Daryl was quiet.

I looked over my shoulder, saw that Lori, Carol and Andrea were having a conversation about the RV and how to get back to the highway.

"Do you think . . ." I started in whisper, barely audible. "That - - maybe . . . we'll find Sophia alive?"

Daryl looked at me. "I'll do everything in my power to find her alive. If we find her as a Biter . . ." he looked over his shoulder then turned back to me. "We'll have to leave her as she is."

"If we _do _find her as a Walker, that's not her. Remember what Jenners said? When you're infected and you turn, that human part, the _you _part doesn't come back. That you're just a shell running on mindless instinct."

"You sure remember a bunch from what that 'ol prick said."

"We almost died," I stated. "I was too busy trying not to slice his head off."

"Yeah," Daryl said with a smile. "I noticed."

I sigh. "Why'd you want to get out of there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Out of the CDC? Jenners was right, we knew our fate out here. A brutal, agonizing death. But in the CDC, we could've died painlessly. We could've ended it right there."

"I should be askin' _you _that, Avery. You were seriously pissed at Jenners."

"I asked first."

"Well I asked second."

"Jesus, just answer my question." I grinned at him, noticed how dirty he was, literally. He's five percent white, ninety-five percent dirt. Makes his blue eyes stand out.

"Fine," Daryl says, giving up. "Fine. I wanted to get outta there cause I wanted to find Merle. He's my brother. The only family I have left is Merle. And he's somewhere out there. I have no idea if he's alive or dead. But I'm goin' to find him." He cleared his throat. "So, miss Avery. Why did _you _want to get out?"

"Because of Tommy. I would've decided to end it right there if Tommy wasn't there with me. But he was. And he's the only reason I'm alive today. That little prick keeps me going."

"HEY!" Tommy called from behind me. I bit back a laugh, but Daryl was already laughing. Tommy ran up to me, and I passed a hand through Tommy's dark brown hair. His eyes were like mine, that matched Daryl's eye color. Well, not really. Daryl's eyes are deep blue. Mine are bright blue, like the beach water from Puerto Rico or from the Bahamas. Pretty, huh? Tommy has the same eyes. His hair's a bit lighter than mine, he has Mom's hair, Dad's eyes. I have Dad's hair and eyes.

Daryl's hand bumped into mine and his pinky looped mine in his, then let go just as fast. I looked at him, wondered _what is he doing? _Then a family of moths exploded in my stomach.

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxo**

"How much farther?" Lori asks.

"Not much," Daryl answers. "Maybe a hundred yards. As the crow flies."

"Too bad we're not crows," Andrea whines. She wanders off away from the group and all I hear is, "'As the crow flies' my ass," from her and then she starts screaming. Daryl takes off running, and we're all right behind him. That's when I see her, and _it, _a Walker. Daryl runs faster. And then I see something else. A - - horse? It's a woman on a horse. She swings a bat at the Walker and it falls unconscious on the floor. Can dead things be unconscious?

"Lori," The woman with short brown hair says. "Lori Grimes?"

"I'm Lori," Lori says.

"Rick sent me to get you. There's been an accident. You gotta come now. Carl's been shot."

Lori's in a state of shock, I can see it on her face.

"He's still alive. But you need to come. Rick needs you, just _come!_"

Lori takes off her backpack and Daryl blows up. "Whoah whoah whoa!" he says. "We don't know this girl! You can't get on that horse!" But Lori ignores him and hops on behind the woman.

"Rick said you have others on the highway," the woman said. She tells us the direction to her farm. "You'll see the mail box. Name's Green." She digs her heels in the horse's sides and gallops away with Lori on her back.

I hear moaning. Yep. That Walker that that woman had hit. It's still alive. Daryl spat, "Shut up!" at it and shot an arrow in its head. I retrieved his arrow, wiping the dark blood on the Walker's clothing, and handing it back to Daryl.

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxo**

"Shot?" Dale asked us, as soon as we got back on the highway and Daryl told him. "What do you mean 'shot'?"

"I don't know, Dale," Glenn said in pants. "All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse an took Lori."

"You let her?"

"I'm done outta my ass hole, man," Daryl said to Dale and walked away. "Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's."

"I heard screams," Dale said to Andrea. "Was that you?"

"She got attack by a Walker," I said to Dale. "Was a close call."

"Andrea? Are you alright?"

Andrea turned around, started to nod, then changed to a shake of her head. She went inside the RV, slamming the door behind her.

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxo**

"I won't do it," Carol says. "I can't just leave."

"Carol," Dale protests. "Our group is split. We're scattered and weak."

"What if she comes back? And we're not here?" She looks around at our faces. "it could happen."

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone," I started. "That would be awful."

"Okay," Daryl says, nodding his head at us, but keeping his eyes on me. "We got a plan for this. I say tomorrow morning when it's bright enough to pull out stakes. Gives us to make a big sign, leave her some supplies. All day tonight. Stay with the RV."

"If the RV's staying, I am, too," Dale says.

"Thank you," Carol says in a whisper. "Thank you both."

Daryl looks at me. I nod. "I'm in."

"I'm in, too," Andrea says.

"Well if you all are staying," Glenn starts. "Then I'm - "

"No, Glenn. Not you," Dale interrupts. "You're going. Take Carol's Cherokee."

Glen lets out an annoyed breath. "Me? Why is it always me?"

"We have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on. But most importantly, you have to get T-dog there. This is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse. Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics, cause if not, T-dog will die." Right then, I see Daryl stalk away. "No joke."

Daryl goes to his motorcycle, pulls out a plastic zip-loc bag full of OTC - 'over the counter' - medication bottles. He walks over here, throws Dale a rag and opens up the zip-loc bag.

"Why'd you wait till now to say anything?" Glenn asks.

"They're my brother's stash," Daryl says simply and says the names of some of the OTC medication. Throws Glenn an OTC medication bottle. "Some kick-ass pain killers." He tosses Dale a different OTC bottle and ends the conversation with, "Merle got CLAPS on occassion." And walks away. I smiled with half of my mouth at him, what a kind guy, I thought to myself. So, there _is _a kind side to Daryl Dixon after all.

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxo**

The sun's barely touching the horizon, and I'm ontop of the RV keeping watch with Dale. The kind man told me that he'd take over, but I said that it wasn't a problem, that I had nothing else to do.

**Back at the farm **

Herschel's checking Carl's blood pressure. "Pressure's dropping again," he says. "We can't wait much longer."

"Take some more," Rick says, holding out his arm. "How ever much he needs, then I gotta go."

"Go?" Lori asks. "Go where?"

"They said five miles." Rick's talking about Shane and Otis. "They should be long back by now. Something's gone wrong."

"Are you insane?" Lori says. "You're not going after them."

"Rick," Herschel said. "Listen to your wife."

"If they got into trouble," Rick starts, but is interrupted by Herschel.

"You're in no condition to do anything about it. You've given too much blood, you're barely on your feet. You wouldn't make it across the yard."

"If something happened, I have to go," Rick starts.

"NO!" Lori exclaims. "Your place is here. If Shane said he'll be back, he'll. Be. Back. He's like you in that way."

"I can't just _sit _here -"

"That's _exactly _what you do! If you need to pray, cry, tell God he's cruel, you go _right _ahead, but you're not leaving, Rick. Carl needs you. Here. I can't do this by myself. Not this one. I can't. I can't."

**[I couldn't find any more ideas to bundle up in "Bloodletting", so I squeezed in "Save The Last One" just for you guys! You pricks ;D]**

**Save The Last One - Episode 3 Season 2**

_The shower faucet was on, and the sound of the electric razor could be heard from outside. His dirty, blood-stained clothes were piled on the floor, and he was completely naked. Shane was shaving off his entire head. Scratches from Otis marked his skin and his shaven hair piled up in the sink. Small hairs from his head were sprinkled on his shoulders, his back, and in the gapes on his collar bone. With one hand, Shane rubbed the fog-covered mirror and looked into his reflection. Looking at the new him, the killer inside. He didn't recognize himself. Shane hated himself for what he did, but it was what he had to do to save Carl. It was an option to do what he did to Otis. It was either let Otis die and get away, or both of them die, including Carl since they couldn't get the supplies to Herschel. But what's done is done. Shane's not proud of what he did to Otis. But there's no going back now._

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxo**

"It was legendary," Rick started. "Did you ever hear about the time Shane stole the principal's car?"

"Yeah," Lori said breathlessly.

"Principal's car. Right outta the teachers' lot. Just a regular school day. Shane steps outta lunch, makes a bee-line for Kingsly's Hondi. Wires the ignition, peals out, drives down Dylan drive. Near that chicken farm out there, you've heard this before right? So he pulls it into one of the big holes in there, Kingsly waxed that thing every month. Had the autoshot vacuum it and clean it every week. Shane, he boxed it into the chicken farm, spread seeds all over the back seats, gets out and sprints back to school. It's three miles away. Easy. He gets back to finish his sandwhich before the bell, and the bell rings, Shane gets up, runs into Kingsly in the hallway. He looks out the window and says, 'Principal Kiingsly, your coop's gone.'" Rick chuckles at the memory. "Coop, like chicken coop?"

"I get it," Lori says.

"Of course you do. You've heard this story times and times before. What you said before, you're right. Shane's gonna make it back with what the doctor needs."

"Herschel says you need to eat," Lori says, trying to change the subject.

"Carl's gonna be alright," Rick stated. They look into each other's eyes for a while.

"Please, for me? Gotta keep your strength up." She's talking about eating that sandwhich and the tall glass of milk beside him. And with that, he eats his sandwhich while Lori holds Carl's hand, hoping and praying that he'd be okay. And then it hits her. Doubt.

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxo**

My side is killing me. It's stinging like a bitch and I can't stop it from doing so. I tried putting alcohol on it, but I stopped when I looked at the bottle. Nope, sir, I will _not _put alcohol on it. That stuff stings worse than the wound itself. Tommy's inside the RV. Everybody but Dale and I are. I think everybody's sleeping. I know Tommy is. I know Dale's up there, ontop of his RV, keeping watch. I'm up there, too, but I'm sitting on a lawn chair, looking 're supposed to be taking shifts, but Dale says it's fine, he'll take care of watching for Walkers. I shake it off, grab a huge-ass flashlight and tell Dale I'm going to walk the forest.

"Don't you think it's too dark for that?" Dale asks me as I climb down the ladder of the RV.

"If Sophia's close, she'll see the light form my flashlight and come towards me. And besides - -" I gesture towards my bow and sheath of arrows that are strapped to my back. "- - I have my guardian angels right here."

"Holler back if there's any trouble."

"Gotcha." And I climb down the ladder. When I'm touching the ground, I looked around, okay. We're clear. I make my way to the side of the RV, and the door flies open, it hits my upper arm and I say, "Ouch! Geez!" I walk from behind the door and see Daryl.

"My bad," he says. "Where're you goin'?"

"For a walk. Gonna shine some light in the forest. If Sophia's close by, she'll see the light and come towards us."

Daryl nods. "That's what I was gonna do."

I look over my shoulder, seeing Andrea coming down the steps, then she stops, blinks, heads back inside and shut the didn't look too happy. Did I just make an enemy? Daryl tells Dale that we're going to shine some light in the forest and walk around the highway to see if Sophia's around. Dale said it was fine, but to be careful out there. And since I already told Dale what I was doing, he was okay with it.

We start walking in the forest, stepping over branches, and I wanted to get out of there. I felt trapped by my paranoia and I thought I'd go insane if this kept going on. Maybe that's how I'm going to die one day. From going insane. My brain might just 'explode' and I'll die. Maybe.

"You really think we're gonna find Sophia?" I ask, bringing up that subject again.

Daryl shone his light from his flashlight at me. "You got that look on your face like everybody else. The hell's wrong with you people. We just started lookin'."

"Do you?"

"It ain't the mountains she's at, it's Georgia. She could be at some farm out here. People get lost, they survive. Happens all the time."

"She's only twelve."

"Hell, I was younger than her and I got lost. Nine days in the woods eating berries. Wiping my ass with poison oak."

I looked at him, let out a laugh. "And they found you?"

"My old man was out in a vacation with some waitress. Merle was doing another sentence in juvy. Didn't even know I was gone. Made my way back, though. Went straight into the kitchen and myself a sandwhich. No worse fom where, my ass itched like something awful."

This time I couldn't keep it in. I laughed, covering my mouth with the back of my hand, the hand I was holding my flashlight with. Daryl looked at me, his deep blue eyes shone from behind all this dark atmosphere. He was holding back a laugh, smiling like an idiot. A hot idiot, to be exact.

"Sorry," I said with a chuckle. "That is a terrible story." We both laughed this time. To be honest, that was the first time I've heard Daryl laugh. Not in a big group, it's just Daryl and I. Out here. In the woods. All by ourselves.

"The difference is," Daryl started. "Sophia's got people lookin' for her. I call that an advantage."

We kept walking around, I think in circles, I'm not sure. I kept seeing the same old tree. I feel stalked, like that game named _Slender _where you're supposed to find those notes and get away from Slender Man. But when my bare arm brushed against Daryl's, I felt secure, as if nothing in the world could harm me.

Daryl unstrapped his crossbow from his back, seeing a tent, I pulled my bow from my shoulders and he shook his head at me. "Put it away," Daryl said. "I need you to shine some light near that tent. See if Sophia's in there." I nodded, put the bow back over my shoulders and made my way to the tent. I got near the tent, Daryl was right behind me to back me up, and I opened up the flap to the tent. Nobody's in there.

And then I hear something in the trees. I turn around, see Daryl already near the tree. He looks up.

"What the hell?" Daryl says to himself.

I look at the Walker, bite my bottom lip. Examine the person that had hung himself and is now a hanging, hungry pinata. I see something. A note. On the tree. Oh, great. And _speaking _of Slender Man. . .

Daryl started to read from the note. "_Got bit. Fever hit. World gone to shit. Might as well quit._" He looked back up at the Walker. "Dumb ass didn't know enough to shoot himself in the head. Turned himself into a big, swingin' piece o' bait. What a mess."

I clutched my stomach. Accidentally dug my finger in my wound. Winced. Felt like throwing up. Hunched over and coughed.

"You alright?" Daryl asked.

"Trying not to hurl."

"Go ahead if you gotta."

"I'm - -fine. Let's just talk about something else for a moment. How'd you learn to shoot?"

"I gotta eat. That's one thing these Walkers and us have in common. This is the closest he's been to food since he turned. Look at him, hangin' up there like a big pinata." I stood up straight, felt the nausea go away for a sec. Then Daryl pointed out the Walker's dangling legs. "Gross. The other geeks came and ate the flesh from his legs."

And with that, I hunched over again, threw up. I coughed, wiping my mouth. "Thanks for changing the subject," I said sarcastically.

"All that pay back," Daryl chimed, looking at me with a grin. "For laughing 'bout my itchy ass."

I got out a water bottle from the bottom of my sheath of arrows and took a swig, not drinking it, just swishing it around my mouth, spitting it out, and repeating with another swig. "Wasn't alot that came up," I added. Took a swig. Swished it around. Spit it out. Okay, we're all good. My mouth doesn't taste like vomit. "Just water. Haven't eaten in two days."

"Why not? We have food."

"I know. But I gave it to Tommy."

"You should eat if you want to live."

"When we get back to the RV I am. I'm just too busy worrying about everybody to even think about how hungry I am."

Daryl nodded, grinned at me. "We should go back. Leave this perimeter. If that there geek keeps makin' that much noise, it'll attract more geeks." He walked behind me, and I stopped him by grabbing his forearm softly. His eyes met mine for an instant.

"Aren't you gonna - -" I started, stopped, looked at the dangling Walker pinata.

Daryl looked at the Walker. "Nah, he ain't hurting nobody. I ain't wastin' an arrow, either. He made his choice. Opted out. Let 'em hang." He looked over at me, nodded, kept walking. I walked closer to the Walker, and the closer I got, the more noise that thing made. I stayed right in front of the tree, staring at the Walker.

I heard Daryl's footsteps coming to a stop, heard him turn around, felt his hand on my shoulder. "What're you thinkin' about?"

I looked over my shoulder at him.

"It was just a question," he added.

I looked back up at the Walker, then at Daryl. "An answer for an arrow. Fair enough?"

Daryl nodded, managing that half-smile he does with the right side of his lips that makes my stomach blow up with giant fluttering moths.

"I'm thinking about my family. Mom. Dad. Tommy. I mean - - what if I wasn't there to get Tommy away? Would I be like - -" I stopped, thought of what happened that night I wasn't there with Tommy at the refugee camp when we were going to save Merle. "- - like that Walker. Or - - Jesus - - or Amy? Or would I be just as dead as those people seven feet underground? That's what I'm thinking about."

He looked at me, his eyes examined my face. "Not much of a positive answer, now, is it?" How got out his crossbow. I put a hand ontop of it, said, "Wait," and handed him one of my arrows. He took it, put it in the arrow compartment where he puts his arrows, and shoots one of his own at the Walker. It becomes quiet, given that Daryl just shot it dab-smack on its head.

"Waste of an arrow," Daryl says to himself and turns on his heel to walk away. I jog to catch up to him, and end up tripping over something. A stray tree limb that grew from the ground. My knee's scraped, damn the jeans Jenners gave me, I had to cut them an inch or two above the knee because they were high-waters.

Daryl turned around, helped me sit up, flashed some light on my knee. "Just a scrape," he said. "I'll have to clean that when we get back. Don't want it to get infected."

I nodded. "Yeah." I had a hurt look on my face, not from the scrape, but from my side. My wound. It hurt worse now. But then - - his face. It was so close.

"You okay?" Daryl asks, his eyes boring into mine, looking for something. Well, you know what they say, the eyes are passage ways to the soul.

I look into his deep blue eyes and swallow. "Y-yeah. I'm - uh, fine."

He smiles, and I feel his warm hand on top of mine. He frowns. "You're cold."

"My hands are always like that. As if they were put in a - -" and then I stop, wanting to end my sentence, but Daryl had lifted my hand to his lips, blew into them. Oh, God. His hot breath felt amazing on my cold hands. " - - a freezer." I let out a sigh of relief, close my eyes, enjoy the heat from him. I open my eyes and find him smiling ear-to-ear, he chuckles, grabs my other hand, bring it his lips and blows into them. His eyes look into mine, and suddenly, I'm at bliss. I forgot all about the Walkers, about dying at any moment now. All I could focus on was this charming, blue-eyed redneck blowing into my hands. He stops, but I want more, and my hands are still to his lips. He hasn't brought them down yet. I feel his lips on my knuckles. I feel the breath from his nose hitting my hands. He lowers my hands slowly.

"Better?" he asks.

I nod too quickly, like an eager child. "Y-yeah."

Daryl smiles again. "Good."

I'm tempted to grab his face and kiss him. Hard. God, what I'd give to kiss him. To cover him in kisses and have him all to myself. Before I know it, he's inches from my face again. He inches closer, and I think he's going to whisper something to me, but he kisses my cheek. And I feel my cheeks flush. He slowly backs away and stops when he's barely an inch away from my lips. Looks at them, then at me. I don't move a muscle. _Do it, _I thought in my head. _Damn it, Daryl. Just kiss me! _He inches closer, and his lips are on mine. I can't help but smile from in between kisses. At first, the kisses were soft, gentle, as if his lips were feathers brushing against mine. Then, they got intense. With each kiss came a heavy breath that we needed to breathe in unless we wanted to pass out. Daryl was pressing his body against mine, forcing me to lie down. He put our weapons beside us and kept on kissing. I turned my head as I felt his lips peck at my neck. I know this isn't love. We just met each other a week or two ago. This is lust, and longing. We're adults, for God's sake. We get lonely. If this is the last moment I'll have before I die, let it be. I just want to spend this night with Daryl.

His lips made it to my collar bone, and he started breathing heavy. I felt it, _him, _his manhood growing. He was _that _close to my body. He looked into my eyes, as if asking for permission. I nodded and felt his hot fingers grab the bottom of my shirt, about to lift it up. But I surprised him by pushing him beside me on the ground, and throwing my legs around him. Now I was ontop.

"Damn," Daryl said with a surprised tone in his voice. "Didn't see that comin'."

"A girl with many surprises," I said and kissed him hard. "That's what I am." We kept kissing and I sat up, taking off my shirt, revealing my bra and the giant square Band-Aid on my side.

"Are you okay?" Daryl asks. At first I don't get what he's talking about. And then I look down at the Band-Aid.

"Yeah, I feel fine."

"Then why don't you take off the Band-Aid?"

"Just to be safe, I guess. I don't want it to get infected." _Too late, _I thought to myself. He gave a nod, sat up and kissed me hard. Before I knew it, he took off his shirt, revealing his tight chest and some-what muscled stomach. I ran my hands down his amazing body and felt him wrestling with his belt to come off. I couldn't help but laugh and kiss him again, making it harder for him to take off his pants. When he undid his belt, I looked down and helped him unbutton his pants. I could feel his eyes on my face.

He grabbed my face and crashed his lips onto mine, his tongue was darting in and out of my mouth, having a some-what war my tongue. He grabs my side and digs his thumbs into them. And I pull away from the kisses screaming. "Shit!" I hiss under my breath.

"What the hell?" Daryl says. "What happened?"

"My cut."

"If you were 'okay', you wouldn't have screamed like that. Le'mme take a look."

"No," I said quickly. "I'm - fine."

He pushed me a few inches away and peeled away the Band-Aid, flashing light from his flashlight there. His eyes widened. "Your cut's infected, Avery," Daryl said. "I think it's been like that for a few days. It's swollen and red, I think I see pus in there somewhere."

"Oh, well thanks for trying to make me vomit again," I sarcastically say.

"This is serious." He puts his palm on my forehead. "No fever . . . but we need to get you some antibiotics or you'll get a fever. And an infection can get serious very quickly."

"Now what?"

"Let's get back up to the highway. I think I have somethin' else from Merle that can disinfect that there wound."

"I told you I'm fine, Daryl."

"Now you might be. But in a few hours, or a day or somethin', you might not be."

I sigh. "Promise me you won't tell Tommy. Or anybody else. I don't want it getting to Tommy and for him to freak out. I don't want him thinking that his big sister's gonna die on him."

"A pinky-swear for a kiss."

I bit my bottom lip. "Are you serious?"

"Fair enough?"

My hands grabbed at the back of his head, tangling my fingers in his hair and I brought my lips to his. I felt his pinky curl around mine, and in between kisses, he said, "I - - promise." Oh, God. I wanted more. We pulled away, Daryl handed me my shirt with a naughty grin right there on his face.

"Maybe some other time," he assured. I grabbed my shirt, gave him one last kiss that lasted for I don't know how long, and slipped on my shirt.

"Two close calls," I said, adjusting my bra from underneath my shirt.

"What are you talking about? You mean from the night at the CDC?"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about."

He grinned. "Damn, why can't we just have fun for a night?"

I smiled, passed a hand on his cheek. "Like you said, maybe some other time."

Daryl helps me up and we retrieve our weapons and flashlights, making our way up the hill and onto the highway. I miss a step, slipping on a rock, but I don't fall. I feel a hand curling around mine and when I look down, I'm not surprised to see it's Daryl - ofcourse. I was surprised by his tight grip, though. His thumb rubbed my hand kindly and held my hand tight, as if he loosened his grip, I'd slip away and never return. He slowly let go once we reached the highway, just in case he had to get his crossbow and take down a Walker or two. But their weren't any.

We made our way back to the RV as quiet as we possibly could. I shone some light at Daryl and found him blushing. He. Was. Blushing. I couldn't help but smack a grin on my face. And then I saw Dale. And Carol. She was at the brink of tears, she made her way into the RV, slammed the door and I frowned. If only Sophia was here. Before I knew it, Andrea came outside, and Dale talked to her. With that, Daryl snaked his fingers through mine and went inside Dale's RV with me. I found Tommy sleeping on the couch next to the bed Carol was lying on. I let go of Daryl and went over to Tommy, kissed his cheek which was warm, yet smelled like persperation. He woke up with a shake, I had startled him. I apologized and told him several times that it was me, his sister. He was having a silent nightmare. It scares me to see him like that. When he was calmed down, I pulled him into my arms and said soothing things to him. I felt the warm, strong hand of Daryl on my shoulder. As I looked over at Carol once I tucked Tommy back in, her eyes were misty and full of longing for her child.

"Better get your sleep," Carol said in a soft voice to Daryl and I. "Tomorrow we're going to see how Carl's doing. Let's just hope he's better."

* * *

**Very disappointed. Not a single REVIEW. From now on, I don't care if it's been a year, I won't update until I get atleast TWO reviews for this chapter. I mean really, it's been like two months. So disappointed on my readers. TWO REVIEWS OR I WILL NOT UPDATE!**


	7. Chapter 7 - Cherokee Rose

**I'm soooooo sorry it took this long! I hate myself for it! I was too busy catching up on Season 4, and now that my mom took off Netflix, I'm not sure how the next episode goes. I guess I will have to look it up ): Ugh, I'm so sorry you guys! **

**I know I don't deserve it, but please REVIEW? It will let me know how bad/good I did on this chapter. PLEASE**

* * *

**Cherokee** **Rose**

I feel somebody shaking my arm as I'm half-conscious. The first thing I think to myself is, _Oh, my God! A Walker! _And I'm startled by a voice saying into my ear, "Avery! Wake up!" And then I notice that it's Tommy. The sun peers into the RV windows, getting into my eyes and I look away. I grunt, covering my eyes. I'm on the floor, with my back against a cabinet, and Daryl's legs were under mine. He was still sleeping. I passed a hand through my tangled, dark hair and shook Daryl awake.

"Daryl," I said, my throat was dry from sleep. "Wake up."

"We're gonna see Carl!" Tommy said, patting Daryl's cheeks. He groaned, opened his eyes, sat up, yawned, looked me in the eye.

"What the hell," Daryl muttered. "I was sleepin' like a baby."

"I noticed," I said in matter-of-fact tone. "We're going to Lori. Going to see how Carl's doing."

Daryl stretched his arms out, and I saw that hairy jungle of an armpit. I bit back a laugh. He put his arms doing, licking his lips, got up and stepped over me to get outside. Tommy hopped over me and headed outside. I tried to grab his arm to stop him, but was already out the door. I got up and headed outside, looking around.

"Tommy?" I called. I didn't hear Tommy's voice, I heard the roar of Daryl's motorcycle instead. I jogged over to where I heard the roar of the motorcycle, and saw Tommy sitting on Daryl's lap, holding on to the handle bars that were too high for him and made _vroom vroom _noises with his mouth. I stepped in front of the motorcycle and Tommy smiled up at me with an ear-to-ear grin.

"Look, Avery!" Tommy said, making more _vroom vroom _noises. "I'm Daryl! Watch me take down some Lame Brains and walk away like a boss!"

I looked at Daryl with an eyebrow raised. "What did you do?"

"What do ya mean, 'what did you do?' I ain't do nothin'," Daryl answered, holding onto Tommy so he wouldn't fall of. "This kid's a good listener. And he has a pretty good role model." He grinned smugly at me and I smiled at him.

"Come on, Tommy," I said, grabbing his little hand. "Let's get you changed."

"Awe!" Tommy whined. "Can I ride with Daryl?"

"Absolutely not. You're riding in the RV."

Daryl said, "Better get off, Tomkin," and helped Tommy to the ground.

"Get inside the RV, and grab your backpack, I'll be there in a sec," I said to Tommy, giving him a pat on the back, then he was off. As soon as I was going to walk back to the RV, Daryl stopped me by speaking.

"You won't let lil' Tommy ride with me 'cause you wanna keep on ridin'."

I looked at him. "Just get our ride ready."

He cracked a smile, not showing any teeth, and chuckled. I turned on my heel and headed inside the RV. Tommy was waiting for me with his backpack over his shoulders. Andrea and Carol were outside, looking for Sophia real quick, so I changed Tommy into his clean clothes in less than two minutes. I fixed his hair, but he insisted on leaving it messy like that. That Walkers won't bother checking out his hair if they catch him.

"Those Geeks won't get to you while I'm around, you got that? Don't you _ever _say that again, Tommy. Don't even let it cross your mind. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you," I said to him, rubbing his arms comfortably. "You're a kid, you shouldn't be thinking like that."

"Everybody's been thinking that. Kids are the weakest, right? They'll die first. If it's not for the Walkers, then it's for somethin' else," Tommy explained.

"Stop! Don't talk like that. Just - - get your butt in a seat and wait until we're on the road." Tommy's in Dale's RV while I'm in the back seat of Daryl's motorcycle, holding on tight, afraid that I'll fall off and get hurt. I'm danger prone, I think. Since I keep falling down and hurting myself. No. Wait. That's called being clumsy. Close enough.

"Look," Daryl said over his shoulder, nodding at a farm and a beautiful white house.

"Wow," I cooed. I haven't seen a place this open and beautiful since - - ever.

"I know, right?"

The rest of our group was behind us, and I could see Glenn's baseball cap from this distance. Our group. Our people. After three days, we're finally reunited. I bit back a too-wide, too-big, ear-to-ear smile. I couldn't believe I was _that _happy to see our group. It feels like an eternity. Our group, back when we were at the highway, were weak and we were afraid that another herd of Walkers would come.

Daryl parked on the front yard. I got off, hooked one of the helmet loops through one of the handle bars and looked at my bow and arrow, trying to figure out if I should take them with me. But I eventually made up my mind. I strapped the sheath of arrows over my shoulders and grabbed my bow. We made our way around Lori, Rick and the people that owned this place.

"How is he?" Dale asks.

"He'll pull through," Lori says, with a kind, thankful smile on her face. "Thanks to Herschel and his people and - -"

"And Shane," Rick added. "We'd lost Carl if it wasn't for Shane."

Dale gives a sigh of relief and embraces Rick in a manly hug. Carol murmurs, "Thank God," and hugs Lori.

"How did it happen?" Dale asks, letting go of 'Officer Friendly'.

"Hunting accident. Just a - - a stupid accident."

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

"Blessed be God," Herschel started, as a young teenage girl with long, blonde hair put a stone on Otis's grave. "Father of our Lord: Jesus Christ. Praise be to him, for the gift of our brother Otis. For his spand of years, for his abundance of character. Otis, who gave his life to save a child's. Now, more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he shares in your embrace. He died as he lived, in grace." He stops talking, turns his head to Shane. "Shane, will you speak for Otis?"

"Not good at it," Shane says. "I'm sorry."

"You were the only one with him. You shared his final moments. Please," a blonde-haired woman who I think is Otis's wife, said to Shane. "I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."

Shane looks at the pile of rocks. Looks guilty for something. I can see it written all over his face. He nods. "We were 'bout done. Almost outta ammo, we were down to pistols by then. I was limpin'. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. 'We gotta save the boy', that's what he said." His voice cracked, as if he was going to get emotional for this moment. I almost cried. Almost. If I knew this 'Otis' fellow. "He gave me his backpack, he shoved me ahead. 'Run', he said. 'I'll take the rear, I'll cover you'. And when I looked back - -" he stopped, looked at Otis's wife. "If not for Otis, I wouldn't have made it out alive. That goes for Carl, too. It was Otis. He saved us both. If any death ever had meaning, it's his." Shane nodded at Otis's wife, limped his way to Otis's rocky memorial until he was close enough. He reached out with the rock in his hand, found a good place to put it, and settled it down on the pile of rocks.

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

Andrea, Shane, Daryl, Herschel, Rick and Maggie - who was walking up to us - were gathered around Carol's Cherokee. Tommy was in Herschel's house, talking to Carl who's coming in and out of his comma. I'm determined to find this girl, to do something about it.

"How long's this girl been lost?" Herschel asked.

"This'll be day three," Rick answered.

Maggie said, "County survey map," and rolled out a sheet of paper on the Cherokee's hood. "Shows terrain and elevations." She set rocks on the corners of the map to keep it from rolling up again.

"This is perfect," Shane said.

"We can finally get this thing organized," Rick added. "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."

"Not you," Herschel said. "Not today. You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passin' out." He turned his head towards Shane who's head was down. "And your ankle, push it down any further, and you'll be in bed for a month. Won't do any good to anybody."

"Guess it's just me and Avery," Daryl said. "We'll head back to the creek. Work our way through there."

"I can still be useful," Shane said. "I can drive up the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back."

"Alright," Rick said, nodding. "Tomorrow, then. We'll start doing this right."

"This means we can't have our people out there with just knives. We need that gun training we've been promisin'," Shane added.

"I prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've made it so far without turning this into an armed camp," Herschel said to Shane.

"With all due respect," Shane states. "What if one of those crowds of biters come wandering in here - -"

"We're guests here," Rick adds. "This is your property, and we will respect that." He holds out his gun, settles it down ontop of the hood of the Cherokee. Shane sighs, puts his gun down on the hood next to Rick's.

"First thing's first. We set camp, find Sophia," Rick said.

"I hate to be the one to ask when I got to," Shane starts. "But what happens if we find Sophia and she's bit?"

"You do what has to be done."

"And how about Carol?" I ask, butting into the conversation. "What're you going to tell her?"

"The truth," Andrea answers.

Shane starts talking about how every night they'll be shifts on looking out for Walkers, that Dale has experience and that he'll be a good asset to this as anybody would be. Herschel looks around.

"Our people would feel safer," Rick starts. "If we would carry a gun."

Herschel stops to think, looks at Rick. Nods.

"Thank you."

Daryl nudges me, nods towards the forest. As soon as I'm about to leave, I hear maggie say, "That stuff that you brought, the antibiotics, you got any more?"

I clench my jaw and walk towards Daryl, grab his arm. "We didn't have the things we needed to clean my wound," I say to him.

"Oh, shit, I forgot," he says back. "You wanna stay and I'll search for Sophia?"

"No," I answer quickly. "I'll get it checked out after we get back. I'll be fine."

Daryl nods, half-smiles at me, and tells me to walk faster, that we need to get back to the creak. All I know from my wound is that it's stinging, and my head feels hot. I think I'm running a fever. Ah, shit. My wound's actually infected. I need to get this thing healed. And fast.

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

Daryl holds onto me as the vines on the ground wrap around my feet and force to stop. "Jesus," Daryl says. "You're slow as hell."

"Well, _excuse _me," I mocked. "I'm sorry that these damn vines are so damn attracted to my boots."

He looks down at my shoes. I'm wearing black combat boots I trade over for black hiking boots whenever I'm out doing things like this. But I'd forgotten to change into them. He scoffs. "Women and their shoes."

"Trying to be sexist?"

"Trying to stop you from hurting yourself again."

"Geez, chill out. I'm almost - -" I kick behind me and break off the vines that were wrapped around my feet. " - - okay, I'm free."

Daryl looks at me.

"You're such a perv," I mock, playfully pushing him away. He loses his balance and when I catch him by the arm, he catches his balance, making me lose mine, and he catches me before I hit the ground with my back. We're in the type of position that people dancing in tango would be in. One of his hands were planted firmly on my back while the other one was grabbing my arm. My leg was arched and he was hunched over. We were frozen in that position, looking into each other's eyes.

"T-thanks," I stutter.

"I would've fallen if it wasn't for you."

"So would've I."

He smiles at me and carefully leans in. I hold my breath. And then something rustles behind a bush. Daryl looks towards it, loses his grip on me, and I fall on my back. I sit up, look him in the eye. Daryl's biting back a laugh.

"That was an accident," Daryl says.

"'Accident' my ass, you know you meant to do that," I mock and stand up, brushing the leaves from my rear end and lower legs. I make sure my sheath of arrows isn't broken and check on my bow.

"Seems like you're always getting hurt," Daryl says. "Either you're fallin' or you're bleedin'."

"I've been danger-prone since I was little."

"I don't believe that."

"Why not?"

"If you were 'danger-prone', don't you think you would be dead by now?"

I shrug. "Shit happens."

Daryl scoffs and I hear him murmur, "Shit does happen."

We walk for a mile or two, coming to a stop when there was a creak. I hesitate to drink from it, so I get out my water bottle and start filling it up. When I turn around, I see Daryl giving me a disgusted look. Before he says anything, I start talking.

"I'm not going to drink it now, I'll have to burn the water later. I'm not stupid," I say.

"Good. Cause there might be some Walker blood in that water."

I look at my water bottle, see no sign of red or dark swirls of blood. "Great," I sarcastically say. "That's something to think about while I burn the water." I open up the water bottle and pour the remains out. We keep walking, stepping over patches of thorns and when there's a thick wall of trees and bushes, we stop. There's so many that I can't even tell if it's day or night. Daryl steps up, grabs my hand, walks out from the wall of trees and bushes, and I see an old house. Daryl lets go of me, reaches for his crossbow and readies it. I ready my bow and arrow.

He kicks the door open and I follow. I cover him. He looks into the living room. Nothing there. Looks into another living room. Same results. I nod towards the stairs, he looks up. There's nothing there. Jesus, it's so boring here. Plus it's creepy atmosphere. I hate it. He creeps behind me, brushing his elbow on the back of my arm, looking over his shoulder and grinning at me all smugly, and looks into the kitchen. Nothing. He looks down. Sees a trash can. A small can of sardines. Smells it. I make a disgusted look. He drops the can back into the garbage disposal and looks at a door that's just an inch open. I point my readied bow towards the door. He steps closer, opens the door, and I become tense. But I notice, there's nothing there. I let out a breath, and we make our way outside. He calls out to Sophia. Walks around the house, calls out to her again. I see something growing from the ground. I walk over to it. I recognized it. Daryl kneels next to me, examines the flower.

Daryl touches one of the petals. "A Cherokee Rose."

* * *

Daryl and I make our way back to camp, but find ourselves almost getting lost. There were a few Walkers here and there, but we took them out as quietly as we came. There were close calls when we almost had sex, too. But I had to stop it before it went any further. Cock-blocking, that's what Daryl calls it. But it just isn't the right time, the right moment, to do those kinds of things, right? I mean, it's the middle of an apocolypse. There are more dead people than those who are alive. Which I have no idea how many there are. There are no more blacks, no more 'white trash', just the dead and us. Something that Rick had said to Merle, is what T-dog told me. Speaking of which, he's getting worse. And whenever I look at him, I'm afraid that I'm going to end up like him. Insane and sweating like a pig. He's shaking, he's dehydrated, as if he was in a desert. I had to give him some water - which I remembered Shane found in a U-Haul truck. You can just imagine how stupid I felt.

When Daryl and I got back to Herschel's, Tommy runs up to me and hugs me tighter than I ever thought a little kid would be able to hug. I picked him up and made my way to Herschel's house, and I noticed that Daryl made his way into the RV, where Carol is at. I grab my backpack that I had put my supplies in that was under that dining room table and walk outside. Looking for one person in particular.

"Shane!" I call, when I see him talking to Rick. Shane's limping. I put Tommy down and I see him running to Lori.

"Hey there, Avery," he greets, putting down a rock the size of my head.

"I need to ask you something."

"Alright, ask me."

I look at his belt, jab my index finger on his gun he has tucked into the inside of his pants. "You think you can teach me how to shoot?"

"Aren't you already good at shooting?"

"With my bow and arrows. What if one day I lose them?"

"Come on, Avery, we both know you take those things with you everywhere you go as if they were your own kids."

"I just want to learn. I'm being serious."

Shane looks at me with his beady, squinted eyes. "Fine, if you can identify the parts of this here semi-automatic handgun, I'll teach 'ya how to shoot." He hands me his gun and I look at it as if it were an SAT exam.

I point to the tip of the gun where the bullet comes out of. "The muzzle." I point to the top of the gun, in the middle of it where the bullets are stored. "The barrel." I point to the little things poking out form the top of the gun to help you aim better. "The sights." I slid my finger along the side of the top of the gun. "The slide." I point to the most obvious ones. "The trigger and the trigger guard." I point to the back of the gun. "The hammer." I run my finger down the part where I'm gripping onto it. "The grip." I press a button and the clip comes out. "The magazine." I shove the clip back in and hand the gun to Shane. "Anything else?"

He looks at me, as if I couldn't do it, and chuckles, putting his gun back in his pants. "I didn't think you'd be able to do it."

"My dad was a cop," I said.

"That's one thing we have in common."

"More or less." I shove my hands in the back pockets of my jeans. "_So_! About the shooting lessons. . ."

"Well, the sun's going down so we'll have to try tomorrow."

"But I'm going to look for Sophia tomorrow with Daryl."

"If you have time when you get back, then I'll teach you."

"Fine." I started to walk away, and then Shane got my attention.

"Wait!" Shane called.

I turned around.

"A revolver or a semi-auto?"

"Semi-auto."

He gave a nod, dismissming me. I made my way to Lori, who was saying something to Tommy.

"Sweet kid," Lori said to me. Tommy looked up, expressionless. I knew that look. When Lori noticed, I said it was nothing, he's over-thinking something. I grabbed Tommy's hand and he pulled me behind the RV, walked straight ahead until we were a safe distance away.

"What's wrong?" I said, getting on my knees to get to his height.

"It's Lori," Tommy said. "There's something wrong with her."

"What do you mean? I'm not understanding."

"Right here - -" he points to below my stomach, below my abdomin. "There's something in there."

I quickly put two and two together. Figure out what Tommy's talking about. "You can't tell anybody, okay, Tommy?"

"I don't think she knows. Her thoughts don't say anything about it."

"Just . . . don't say anything. She'll find out sooner or later. I don't want you in any problems."

"Problems? Calm down, Avery. Everybody loves me."

I give him a smirk and gently push him near Dale's RV. "Go on, help them."

"And what about you?" he asked me.

"I have to do something. But I'll be back, don't worry."

**Later that day - - **

I'm outside, sitting on a top branch of a tree where Dale's RV is parked at and I'm staring out into whatever is out there. I'm thinking about my parents. They would've loved to have seen Herschel's farm. His little house and his family. They used to love the outdoors. Until the Walkers came. I felt a sting of sadness grasp at my lungs and I feel like crying, but I choke back the tears. My poor brother saw everything. I wish I could erase it out of his mind. I really do. But what happened, happened. There's no way of turning back.

I had my bow and arrows ready in case a Walker was near by. It was real calm right there. The night. It was relaxing. I could hear the distant sounds of crickets and then - - footsteps. I panicked and grabbed my bow.

"Avery?"

My heart leaped from my chest and I gripped the branch I was sitting on. I look down, see Daryl looking up at me with a towel draped over his shoulder. His hair was still wet, not dripping, but enough to get him to slick it back perfectly. He cracks a half-smile up at me and I crack one back.

"What're you doing up there?" he asks.

"I'm - - thinking."

"In a tree?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Come down here. You didn't eat dinner and Herschel has your food inside."

"I'm supposed to be keeping watch. Andrea got tired so I told her I can take over for her."

"Go ahead and eat. I'll take your shift until you come back. Alright?"

With a sigh, I nodded, slinging the sheath of arrows over my shoulder and doing the same with my bow. I climbed down that tree cautiously, knowing that there were sharp branches sticking out of that tree. I made it to the ground and went inside to eat. The house was peacefully quiet, and for a second, everything seemed normal. And then I remembered why we're here. Reality practically slapped me across my face when I thought that everything was back to the way things were. No Walkers, no extinction of the human race, nothing like that. But it was that. This is an apocalypse, and I'll do anything in my power to survive.

"Avery," Herschel said quietly from behind a doorway. "You missed dinner."

"I know. Sorry. I was keeping watch," I told him.

"Well you can't keep watch when you're low on energy. Come and eat." He led me to the kitchen and heated up some soup for me. I ate it quickly, enjoying the taste of the carrots, noodles and chunks of potatoes that were in there. Herschel patted my shoulder and went back to his bedroom to get some shut-eye. As soon as I finished eating, I washed my plate, and went back outside.

There he was. The breath-taking, squirrel-eating, Walker-slaying redneck, Daryl Dixon. He was at the base of the tree, leaning on it with his shoulder and he was facing me. He had a smirk on his face that made my skin rise with goosebumps. I slowly made my way towards him and he curled his arms around my waist.

"I have little surprise for ya," Daryl said in the most seductive voice I've ever heard. I was going to say something, but he put a finger to my lips, quieting me. "Come with me." He grabbed my hand and walked past Dale's RV, far from Herschel's home, and far enough so no one can hear us.


End file.
